Single Idea 16225

[catalogued under 9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 8. Leibniz's Law]

Full Idea

We can call the 'transference principle' the claim that if it is indeterminate whether two objects are identical, then nothing determinately true of one can be determinately false of the other.

Gist of Idea

If two things might be identical, there can't be something true of one and false of the other

Source

Katherine Hawley (How Things Persist [2001], 4.9)

Book Reference

Hawley,Katherine: 'How Things Persist' [OUP 2004], p.124


A Reaction

The point is that Leibniz's Law could immediately be invoked to show there is no possibility of their identity.

Related Idea

Idea 16224 There can't be vague identity; a and b must differ, since a, unlike b, is only vaguely the same as b [Evans, by PG]