Is self-identity essential to objects?

Synthese (2):1-17 (2019)
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Abstract

A common view is that self-identity is essential to objects if anything is. Itself a substantive metaphysical view, this is a position of some import in wider debates, particularly in connection with such problems as physicalism and personal identity. In this article I challenge the view. I distinguish between two accounts of essence, the modal and the definitional, and argue that self-identity is essential to objects on the former but not on the latter. After laying out my case, I deal with a number of objections.

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Nicola Spinelli
University of Warwick (PhD)

Citations of this work

Essence, modality, and intrinsicality.Gaétan Bovey - 2021 - Synthese 198 (8):7715-7737.
Essence, Triviality, and Fundamentality.Ashley Coates - 2022 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 52 (5):502-516.
Identity and Purity.Tien-Chun Lo - 2023 - Philosophical Quarterly 73 (2):492-508.

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References found in this work

Essence and modality.Kit Fine - 1994 - Philosophical Perspectives 8 (Logic and Language):1-16.
Quality and concept.George Bealer - 1982 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Real Definition.Gideon Rosen - 2015 - Analytic Philosophy 56 (3):189-209.
The identity of indiscernibles.Max Black - 1952 - Mind 61 (242):153-164.

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