Identity

[John Cowan]

Lars Marius Garshol scripsit:

> Until the universe has been chopped into pieces there is nothing to
> assign identity to,

Agreed.

> and it seems to me pretty obvious that if we chop
> it differently then we're going to have serious trouble agreeing on
> the identities of the pieces

Yes.

> or even what it is that constitutes
> identity.

No.  Identity is still the same relation as ever: it's the property
of being an object that has changed.  We have a criterion for identifying
sheep, and not for identifying clouds, so the question "Is this cloud
the same as that one?" may have an answer that is not known, but that
does not make the identity relationship mysterious.

-- 
John Cowan					cowan at ccil.org
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban.

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