Questions tagged [identity]
The identity tag has no usage guidance.
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Why is it wrong to answer a question with a tautology? Isn't “2+2” correct when answering 'What is “2+2”'?
Many times in class, we are asked to answer, "What is 2+2?" or "What is the derivative of the function x?". It would not be the intended answer to write "2+2" or "...
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0answers
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What are the strong arguments against the reassembly of the Ship of Theseus?
I've been thinking a lot about the Ship of Theseus puzzle, and I find the most convincing solution to be that the ship that comes from the reassembly of the original parts is in fact numerically ...
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6answers
182 views
Is steam necessarily ice?
This question arose from the discussion of my recent question, [When is the first appearance of Phosphorus after March 21, 2021?][1] One of the other arguments in Kripke's 'Naming and Necessity' is ...
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55 views
When is the first appearance of Phosphorus after March 21, 2021?
Saul Kripke's argument, in his seminal 'Naming and Necessity', that Hesperus (the Evening Star) is necessarily Phosphorus (the Morning Star), has become one of the canonical examples of a posteriori ...
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2answers
147 views
Does the requirement to use preferred gender pronous preclude the participation of people whose faith teaches that gender cannot be changed?
There are numerous cases where the views held by different people clash. Homosexual intercourses are one such obvious example: many religious denominations (for example Catholicism) consider them ...
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4answers
174 views
Does personal identity/“the self” persist through periods of unconsciousness, such as dreamless sleep?
http://existentialcomics.com/comic/1
I read the above comic, something which turned out to be a mistake because I have just enough understanding of physics, and philosophy to follow its line of ...
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2answers
80 views
Does Heidegger, or any Heidegderian, say that my “ownmost” has Being?
Does Heidegger, or any Heidegderian, say that my "ownmost" has Being? Obviously, that term often means "death", and I'm guessing Heidegger says death has no Being. But perhaps he ...
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1answer
92 views
Does Edward Said offer a solution to Orientalism and could a possible solution relate to Charles Taylors term "Politics of Recognition?
I've recently read Edward Said's book Orientalism but throughout reading, I didn't really find an explicit solution to Orientalism. Though the thing I could see take form as a solution would be his ...
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4answers
768 views
“v = 1 m/s”: predicate or relation? Any literature?
This question is partially related to How does "is" work? and What is the difference between the "is" of predication and the "is" of identity?, but more specifically it ...
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6answers
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Same vs identical vs equal objects
1st case
Consider two objects made from the same factory without any difference (an ideal scenario). Can we say that the two objects are the same? I would say no because one may be produced earlier ...
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3answers
137 views
Mathematics vs Time
Suppose we have a person that one day states "x+3=5". The next day he again states "x+3=5". As events, we can say they are different but does the meaning of the expression has changed? It seems ...
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5answers
252 views
How can I maintain integrity when requested to use gender pronouns yet still be loving?
I have friends who request certain gender pronouns are used, which I do not believe to be correct. I have thought about this topic at some length and concluded that while using these pronouns would be ...
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1answer
485 views
Is there a logical fallacy to identity politics?
My understanding of Identity Politics goes as follows:
A is a member of/identifies with group X
B is not a member of/does not identify with group X
A frames challenge S in terms of X
Because B doesn’...
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1answer
210 views
Where can I learn about identifying and defining objects?
I guess I am asking a vague question about blurred lines in philosophy/language/actions and where/who I can learn more about this from.
here is the passage:
"A step further, existentialism says ...
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14answers
11k views
What is the moral difference between abortion and infanticide?
Many people accept abortion on the grounds that foetuses aren't persons, and that personhood is what defines the right to life. I've always been intrigued about what defines personhood; obviously ...
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2answers
56 views
Use-mention distinction
Is it 1+1 or “1+1” that is a formula of addition?
To my intuition, it is the former, and the latter seems to be a name of the formula. The reason why I ask this question is that provided my intuition ...
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1answer
110 views
Why do we personally identify with our future selves, but not mental copies? [closed]
I'm sure this question has been asked somewhere before, but I don't know the name of this type of question, and so I've been unable to find it. Any pointer to literature written on the topic would be ...
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3answers
265 views
What determines a person's gender identity?
I've noticed that when many transgender allies and even some transgender people themselves have their claims investigated that they, in my estimation, can never really answer them too adequately: one ...
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2answers
131 views
Is the permanent self still tenable? [closed]
I wonder what a possible objection could be:
P1) The self is static in change;
P2) If P1 is true then change cannot be the self otherwise the self wouldn't be static;
C) Therefore, change is the ...
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0answers
77 views
What is it when someone from some group (ethnic, religious, disability, etc.) can automatically talk for others from it?
Is there a term for being for and against the view that (only) someone from some group (ethnic, religious, disability, etc.) can automatically talk for others from it?
It's kind of a political and ...
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1answer
70 views
Is there a branch of philosophy that rejects identity per se?
I see references to arguments against the concept of identity itself (Hegel, Wittgenstein) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_(philosophy). But based on discussions under my question here: ...
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4answers
566 views
The Immortal Jellyfish
I watched an episode of "The Blacklist" which is a popular show on the TV streaming service Netflix. In the episode, the main character refers to a very tiny marine creature commonly known as the "...
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1answer
271 views
Does the Law Of Excluded Middle Apply to the Principle Of Identity and Non Contradiction? [closed]
This argument will seem confusing, precisely because it observes the laws of identity being subject to equivocation. If this is kept in mind, the following should make more sense and explain why the ...
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0answers
109 views
How strong are arguments realting to cosmology in problems of personal identity?
Cosmology, with fairly low confidence, predicts that the universe (or multiverse) is infinite in both time and space. While this does not directly follow, it is also predicted that every possible ...
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1answer
137 views
Self contradictory things that can't really exist: can they be fully conceived of?
It seems like we can conceive of self contradictory things that can exist. e.g. the proposition expressed by "this sentence is false" is self contradictory but I don't seem to have any trouble ...
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Why is logical possibility relevant to the persistence questions of personal identity?
I can imagine splitting my brain in two and placing the individual hemispheres in individual bodies. This affects the psychological continuity view of personal identity because then I would not be ...
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1answer
189 views
What makes you, you? [closed]
Is it your name or your body or your mind?
Also, similarly, fans of a certain sports club will cheer for the sports kit and the name. The players change and so does their coach, but the name and kit ...
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4answers
212 views
Is a Reflection on a Bus, part of the Bus?
Riding the bus I wondered to myself what does it mean to be a part of this bus. From a physics/ computer vision interpretation one may collect all parts that are moving in unison with the larger whole ...
3
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1answer
161 views
Where does 'numerical' in 'numerical identity' come from?
L.S.,
the word numerical has several meanings. E.g. numerical in the meaning ''given by numbers', and when saying Numerical Identity, meaning 'only one'.
When was the first time the word was ...
2
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2answers
536 views
Where do thoughts come from?
When the next thought comes, try to catch its source.
Is there an entity "you" there? Or does the thought come from silence/nothingness? Is this "you" is just a thought that comes from this silence/...
2
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3answers
138 views
Circularity in identity definition
It is written in the SEP:
Identity is often said to be a relation each thing bears to itself and to no other thing (e.g., Zalabardo 2000). This characterization is clearly circular (“no other ...
2
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3answers
132 views
can you rationally believe in an ever changing identity, but also believe that parts of us persevere?
Is it possible to rationally believe that certain aspects of the identity don't change, while still acknowledging the fact that we are not the same person we were an instant ago? In other words, is it ...
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4answers
145 views
Can a reason cost 5 dollars?
Imagine a school where no one can wear a red hat. John goes to school with a red hat costing 5 dollars. Someone says John's red hat "is" the reason why he can't get into the school.
What is the ...
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1answer
62 views
Combining causal and identity relations
Suppose I have the causal relation C causes E, and the symmetric identity relation E is (E1 ^ E2 ^ E3), which have the following probability functions: E = bC and E = E1 * E2 * E3 where E, C, E1, E2 ...
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12answers
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Why am I this particular human being?
Some philosophers dismiss this as a question about a tautology: when Alice asks "Why am I Alice?", this is equivalent to her asking "Why is Alice Alice?", which is not an interesting question. But ...
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0answers
42 views
Are there any arguments for why something past-eternal must necessarily be future-eternal as well?
If we assume that something has always existed in the past, what reason is there to assume that it won't perish in the future?
I pondered on it and I wondered whether the following argument works: ...
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2answers
160 views
Conundrum of the self?
I've been thinking about this topic in relation to artificial consciousness. Specifically self-awareness.
(I can define terms precisely if requested, but usually prefer to be as general as possible:)...
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1answer
129 views
Constitutive Identity
What is the term for the alteration or change in self-indentification consequent to interaction with an authority or professional? For example, you are stopped on the street by a policeman. By his ...
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3answers
214 views
Dawkins' gene-centered view on personal identity
Looking at the following quote by Richard Dawkins:
We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential ...
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0answers
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Does anyone say that mind/brain type identity theory is just vacuous without scientific evidence that some part brain state is always the exact same?
Does anyone say that mind/brain type identity theory is just vacuous without scientific evidence that some part brain state is always the exact same experience? I think that's what type identity ...
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3answers
152 views
Has anyone claimed that any eternal return is not for and to me, because “a perfect repletion is the same”?
Has anyone claimed that any eternal return is not for and to me, because "a perfect repletion is the same"?
I use quotes cos it's something a friend said, and I reckon that (if their original ...
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1answer
195 views
Questions about personal identity and materialism with QM and spacetime
Let's assume for a moment that the materialistic view of the universe is correct. There exists a universe that contains energy in various states spread out in the dimensions of space and time that is ...
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2answers
623 views
Is there any evidence for 'identity epistomology'?
Thomas Chatterton Williams writes:
For having the temerity to defend himself, Mr. Packer was accused on social media of “excusing racism” and “whitesplaining.” Such logic extends a disturbing trend ...
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0answers
31 views
Is my personal identity physical? [duplicate]
In the context of physicalism, Is it consistent to think that I am what I experience and also the physical processes which give rise to my experiences?
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2answers
405 views
What's an intuitive way of thinking about type versus token identity?
What's an intuitive way of thinking about type versus token identity?
I have read and understand the difference between those two terms: tokens are things in space and time; types are abstract and ...
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1answer
189 views
What areas within philosophy look at continuity of personality and self-hood?
I'm sure these kinds of questions fall within some fairly central fields of philosophy: what makes "me now" and "me 10 seconds, months, or decades ago", the same person? In what sense are these "the ...
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Examples of known or fallow existential symbioses between different scientific disciplines (in an essential, not merely engineering, sense)
The film “The Proud Rebel” plays in the time after the American Civil War, featuring a father (John Chandler) who travels with his son David (that is also in real life actor Alan Ladd's son) who is ...
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1answer
614 views
Historiography of the Ship of Theseus
Does anybody know of a historiography or review of the discussion of the idea of the Ship of Theseus and things related thereto (I suppose this might also include Alan Gibbard's discussion of the ...
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0answers
267 views
Axiomatic Proof of Symmetry and Transitivity of Identity
Given the axioms below and the rules of Modus Ponens and Universal Generalization, how can you prove that t=s → s=t for any terms s and t? Additionally, how do you prove that t = s → (s = r → t = r) ? ...
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1answer
162 views
Could Napoleon have been born to different parents?
According to Kripke, things get their identities by being "baptized" with a rigid designator, and we refer to them by way of a causual chain. So it is not the case that Napoleon had to become Emperor ...
