Questions tagged [identity]

The tag has no usage guidance.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
2 votes
5 answers
316 views

Quid sit ego, what is the self?

From my little, torn, pouch of experiences, I present the following sentences, heard/read, it matters not. My body My brain My mind My soul Suggests, ex mea sententia, that, the ego (self) is not an ...
Agent Smith's user avatar
  • 3,196
2 votes
4 answers
111 views

how these two statements can be true at same time?

If you consider any two numbers that are not equal in value (2 is not 3), and it is a true statement that they are not. However, it is also true to state that they are the same: both are numbers. You ...
Nopal vol's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
745 views

Why is the identity predicate needed?

In Logic: The Laws of Truth the identity predicate is introduced as an extension of general predicate logic (GPL). The following propositions are given as motivating examples: (1) "Mark Twain is ...
user51462's user avatar
  • 501
1 vote
4 answers
77 views

Quality vs. Quantity

Suppose 2 hypothetical fruits A and B. A's mass is 10 g and B's mass is 15 g. In addition, A only contains vitamin A and B only contains vitamin B. Each vitamin A molecule weighs 200 picogram and each ...
Agent Smith's user avatar
  • 3,196
4 votes
1 answer
76 views

What would be Gilbert Ryle's necessary and sufficient conditions for being a human being?

One of my students asked me this question and I can't answer it. I thought it was a great question. Any suggestions on an equally good answer? (I'm not a trained philosopher, I'm a historian. I teach ...
Patti Kleeb's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
705 views

Is everything identical to itself, or merely every existing thing?

One of the properties of identity is that everything is identical to itself. But, does "everything" mean literally everything, or merely every thing that exists? For example, I don't think 1/...
user107952's user avatar
  • 5,446
6 votes
10 answers
443 views

Is there any evidence to suggest that our conciousness regularly replaces itself?

I heard on some article that conciousness cannot persist through time and that every second ( or an even shorter duration ) it changes to a new one, is there any evidence to suggest this? Is our ...
Rayyan khan's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
77 views

A question on quantified modal logic

I originally posted this on math.stackexchange.com, but I’m cross-posting it since I know there are good modal logicians on here too. Also, I already asked a similar question here: Identity in ...
PW_246's user avatar
  • 458
0 votes
0 answers
45 views

Can everything have a vague identity?

For any objects, it is traditionally assumed that that either the objects are identical or distinct, and not both. Vague identity is a view that rejects this absoluteness of identity. Its proponents ...
user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
71 views

Is the bardo forever?

Consciousness as such is - I think - said to be made of vague parts; it has parts that are vague, e.g. the sensation of seeing red. I think this means that borderline cases of my consciousness exist ...
user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
43 views

Explaining the existence vs. explaining the nonexistence of necessary beings

I understand that I am waiving issues like the absolute/relative simplicity/complexity distinction, the difference between the logic of existence and the logic of nonexistence per se, etc., so I ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
22 views

Could a being be defined as such that its transworld identity is identical to its in-world identity?

I was reading through Collier[21], which is about Lewisian theism, alongside the SEP article on transworld identity, and have assumed that: The concept of transworld identity (TI) is not necessarily ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
136 views

Why is equality not considered the fundamental unit / principle in nature?

(I don't know how to ask this other than by laying out my worldview. Needless to say, this is here to be dissected and disemboweled. I realize the broad sweeps will irk people. I hope that by ...
Nick Mirro's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
93 views

Is the law of identity the same for negative expressions?

Is the law of identity the same for negative expressions? Does 'if not p then not p' have any specific meaning in philosophy? I am asking because I am trying to work out whether the vagueness of 'p' ...
user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
87 views

Would a divine being having properties of multiple orders undermine the point of attributing divine simplicity to this being?

It seems as if debates about divine natures, among the "laity," are usually preoccupied with what have been called first-order properties of those natures. So we see the perennial quibbling ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
540 views

Does capability design force a re-eximantion of anonymity?

Following up on this recent question and generalizing, let's consider capability-oriented design. In this framing, a capability is a communicable token of authority; possession of a capability is ...
Corbin's user avatar
  • 646
0 votes
2 answers
62 views

Rewriting Theseus ship problem

Let's consider a band (just called Theseus band, for convenience) consist of 3 members, Alex, Brad, and Charles. After the first year, Charles left, and Gary joined the band. After the second year, ...
Tensor's user avatar
  • 1
1 vote
0 answers
39 views

Why does A in Max Black's "Identity of Indiscernibles" assert that there is nothing verifiably different between the twin world and no-twin world?

i just finished "Identity of Indiscernibles" by Max Black and I'm a bit confused. In Max Black's paper, A (the character that asserts that the identity of indiscernibles is true) says to B (...
zzz's user avatar
  • 43
1 vote
1 answer
172 views

Where does the canon event theory of identity formation come from?

There is an idea in the new Spider-man movie Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, where spider-men through different dimensions have to deal with inter-dimensional problems. In it, one critical part ...
tryst with freedom's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
42 views

Does counterpossible reasoning limit the value of using folk intuitions as a parameter in conceptual analysis?

It's too long to quote as well as I'd like, but the section on moral responsibility in the SEP article on empirical moral psychology includes as an example: ... Nahmias, Morris, Nadelhoffer and ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
342 views

Identity in Quantified Modal Logic

Why is ¬(◇(a=b)∧◇¬(a=b)) a validity in Quantified Modal Logic (QML)? For example, let a:=“the present King of France” and b:=“the richest bald person alive”. Then, it seems ◇(a=b)∧◇¬(a=b) is not a ...
PW_246's user avatar
  • 458
0 votes
1 answer
65 views

Is the ideal agent the ideal observer?

Is the ideal agent the ideal observer? Without googling it, I mean the former is the best moral agent, and the latter some meta-ethical (can't recall what meta-ethics) abstraction that judges everyone'...
user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
36 views

Would a universal (tran)set violate the law of identity?

At least, here's the argument that opened the question for me: The anticlass-theory principle: there are no discrete proper classes. There are intensional elementhood parameters such that if some set ...
Kristian Berry's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
77 views

The Leibniz - Turing Dilemma

The Turing Test is basically the idea that when (a) computer and a human can't be differentiated, that computer is an AI. Identity of Indiscernibles boils down to if A is indistinguishable from B then ...
Agent Smith's user avatar
  • 3,196
3 votes
0 answers
67 views

Is the assertion of a moral imperative in complying with a person's self-attested "gender" consistent with broader principles of declared attributes?

The Wikipedia style guide discusses how if a person states that they consider themselves a particular gender, selects a name for themselves in conjunction with a change in gender, and asserts ...
hmltn's user avatar
  • 126
2 votes
2 answers
196 views

Is moral responsibility consistent from an ontological perspective of change?

Let a being be arbitrary, suppose that this being has the capacity to be morally responsible. (EDIT 2) Regardless of group morality, but assume this being is in a moral environment with no moral ...
random_user's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
90 views

Aristotle on Plato's realm of forms

I am familiar with Plato's realm of forms. However, I have not read much of Aristotle except for the Nicomachean Ethics. In a nutshell, how does Aristotle pick up on Plato's forms and where would I ...
user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
222 views

Is it possible for two things to be equal but not identical?

Is it possible for two things to be equal, but not identical? For example, would it be correct to say that 2+2 is equal to 1+3, but 2+2 is not identical to 1+3? If not in that particular case, is ...
user107952's user avatar
  • 5,446
1 vote
0 answers
68 views

Why is being yourself so highly valued among existentialist philosophers? [closed]

From the Disney movie Wreck-it-Ralph: I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me. Is this sentiment wise? Is it truly good to be whoever ...
Fomalhaut's user avatar
  • 413
1 vote
0 answers
114 views

Is there a theory of identity that covers potentiality for certain traits?

I know that there are many different theories of personal identity, such as the embodied mind theory, the psychological continuity theory of identity, etc. Is there an account of personal identity ...
Jake Rankin's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
58 views

How to prove in SOL the validity of the identity of indiscernibles?

I found an exercise page 126 of the book 'Logic for Philosophy' by Sider. The exercise asks to prove in second-order logic the identity of indiscernibles. I tried to write a proof ex absurdo, but I ...
Frank's user avatar
  • 111
3 votes
7 answers
269 views

Is one object at different times actually different objects?

Consider an atom of hydrogen at a time t, and the "same" atom of hydrogen at a time t + 1 second. Are those atoms really the same, or are they distinct? I believe they are distinct, because ...
user107952's user avatar
  • 5,446
3 votes
4 answers
131 views

Is the moment of change numerically identical with the time it occurs?

Is the moment of change numerically identical with the time it occurs? If the moment of change is today at noon, is that the exact same time as today at noon, whatever it is else happens then? It may ...
user avatar
-1 votes
3 answers
227 views

Is gender sex-based, socially constructed or both? [closed]

Does the mere existence of intersex people (and people with 1 XX chromosomes, for example XXY) destroy the claim that gender is based on biological sex? Can this be considered a valid exception, and ...
Cris's user avatar
  • 107
4 votes
10 answers
2k views

Are these random experiments the same?

Consider two experiments concerning similar fair coins(*): Throw the same coin N times and observe the outcome. Throw N similar but different coins 1 time each and observe the outcome. (*) One can ...
Nikos M.'s user avatar
  • 2,143
1 vote
0 answers
255 views

The necessity of shine in Hegel's Logic

In the Doctrine of Essence Hegel begins with shine [schein] as "all that remains of the sphere of being" (WL, p.342). He further qualifies it as a "nothingness or a lack of essence......
Samuel D's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
132 views

Personal Identity Dilemma

Consider the following hypothetical scenario: Suppose a person (Jack) commits a murder and wants to escape punishment. A brilliant but unscrupulous neurosurgeon hears of this and offers to help. They ...
lalala's user avatar
  • 21
11 votes
11 answers
4k views

Why is a set with one element distinct from the element itself?

Why do we consider a set which is treated for all intents and purposes as a 'collection' with one element as being different from the element itself? In this 'collection' there is one element, and ...
Confused's user avatar
  • 1,073
1 vote
5 answers
286 views

When does something cease to exist?

For humans, legally speaking, someone who's "brain dead" is confirmed to have ceased to exist. But what about philosophically speaking? What makes someone who they are? If we are our bodies, ...
ActualCry's user avatar
  • 1,923
4 votes
7 answers
1k views

How does one determine the boundary of an object?

Say we have what we would call an 'object' made of many components, can these 'components' be named objects themselves? In the case do we have an object or many 'objects'? Do we define an object to be ...
Confused's user avatar
  • 1,073
7 votes
9 answers
2k views

What are the philosophical solutions to "ship of Theseus" problem of identity?

Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment in which every piece of a ship kept in a harbor is replaced one at a time. The questions are: would the end result be the same ship or a new ship? If it is not ...
ActualCry's user avatar
  • 1,923
1 vote
1 answer
91 views

Can a Materialist who belives 'You = Your Body' still follow Memory Theory?

From what I have been reading, materialists generally believe that, when it comes to personal identity, that You = Your Body. Would it be contradicting for a materialist to agree with the tenets of ...
maximalism's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
113 views

"Can be interpreted as" vs "Is"

Consider the following pairs of statements: "I see what I interpret as a chair" vs. "I see a chair." "This chair can be interpreted as a set of atoms" vs. "This ...
causative's user avatar
  • 11.1k
2 votes
2 answers
346 views

Why are there no Computer Algebra Systems designed to import known mathematical identities/theorems?

Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) are philosophically interesting in that they are an aspect of the long history of treating mind as mechanism. In this respect, mathematics may be thought of as ...
James Bowery's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
83 views

Looking for the name of "if everyone is x, no one is x"

Usually when I browse this forum, I see many people ask for the names of fallacies. Currently, I'm looking for the name of the philosophical position that goes something like, "if everyone is x, ...
Elias's user avatar
  • 11
1 vote
1 answer
67 views

Can an Inalienable Object be Possessed by two People? [closed]

For example, say John was in a terrible accident and had his hand was severed, he has his hand replaced by a donor hand that comes from James. Normally, in the English Language, we could consider ...
Connor's user avatar
  • 121
2 votes
4 answers
312 views

Can the copy or clone of something be a different, separate and independent entity?

People claim clones and copies are extensions. For instance, they claim that when a cell divides, the "daughter" cells are the "parent" cell; that if something happens to the "...
ActualCry's user avatar
  • 1,923
1 vote
0 answers
56 views

Contradictions with the word 'same'

We know in Language we have an affinity for the word 'Same', I've noticed that when we used it with respect to objects and people, my question is whether this is a particular problem with definition ...
Confused's user avatar
  • 1,073
-1 votes
1 answer
173 views

Does the self change iff there is a change in knowledge? [closed]

While still being distinct terms. And is there a term for this? Hope that’s enough to go on!
J Kusin's user avatar
  • 2,385
2 votes
1 answer
48 views

? as a logical connective

I am reading Doubt Truth to be a Liar by Graham Priest. In it he uses the symbol ? as a logical connective, and I am unsure of it's meaning. Given his use of ? (a ? a) to denote the Law of Identity, ...
melembroucarlitos's user avatar