Single Idea 15811

[catalogued under 16. Persons / B. Nature of the Self / 3. Self as Non-physical]

Full Idea

What picks me out uniquely, without relating me to some other being? It can only be the property of 'being me' or 'being identical with myself', which can only be an individual essence or haecceity, a property I cannot fail to have.

Gist of Idea

I am picked out uniquely by my individual essence, which is 'being identical with myself'

Source

Roderick Chisholm (Person and Object [1976], 1.5)

Book Reference

Chisholm,Roderick: 'Person and Object' [Open Court 1976], p.33


A Reaction

Only a philosopher (and a modern analytic one at that) would imagine that this was some crucial insight into how we know our own identities.

Related Idea

Idea 15807 A haecceity is a property had necessarily, and strictly confined to one entity [Chisholm]