Full Idea
The identity of living creatures depends not on a mass of the same particles. An oak growing from a plant to a great tree, and the lopped, is still the same oak. ..the oak is the organisation of its parts to receive and distribute nourishment.
Gist of Idea
Living things retain identity through change, by a principle of organisation
Source
John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 2.27.03)
Book Reference
Locke,John: 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding', ed/tr. Nidditch,P.H. [OUP 1979], p.330
A Reaction
Compare Idea 12507. The problem case is then inanimate matter which has a structure, such as a statue or a crystal. Living things seem to be individuated by function, so does that apply to statues? Suppose you hollow out a solid statue?
Related Idea
Idea 12507 A mass consists of its atoms, so the addition or removal of one changes its identity [Locke]