Full Idea
Followers of the view that every entity is associated with some sortal term that answers the question 'what kind of thing is this?', and determines its persistence conditions, must answer the question what kinds of entity there are.
Gist of Idea
If sortal terms fix the kind and the persistence conditions, we need to know what kinds there are
Source
Theodore Sider (Four Dimensionalism [2001], 5.3)
Book Reference
Sider,Theodore: 'Four Dimensionalism' [OUP 2003], p.156
A Reaction
[He explicitly refers to David Wiggins here] In other words Wiggins has got it the wrong way round, which is my own view of his theory. Sortal terms don't grow on the trees in the Garden of Eden, available for applications.
Related Idea
Idea 14195 If an object's sort determines its properties, we need to ask what determines its sort [Paul,LA]