Single Idea 10279

[catalogued under 7. Existence / A. Nature of Existence / 1. Nature of Existence]

Full Idea

Can we 'discover' whether a deck is really identical with its fifty-two cards, or whether a person is identical with her corresponding time-slices, molecules, or space-time points? This is like Benacerraf's problem about numbers.

Clarification

Benacerraf's problem is that several accounts fit equally well

Gist of Idea

Can we discover whether a deck is fifty-two cards, or a person is time-slices or molecules?

Source

Stewart Shapiro (Philosophy of Mathematics [1997])

Book Reference

Shapiro,Stewart: 'Philosophy of Mathematics:structure and ontology' [OUP 1997], p.258


A Reaction

Shapiro is defending the structuralist view, that each of these is a model of an agreed reality, so we cannot choose a right model if they all satisfy the necessary criteria.