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Full Idea
Wherever identity is real, it admits of no degrees.
Gist of Idea
Real identity admits of no degrees
Source
Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 5: Abstraction [1785]), quoted by David Wiggins - Sameness and Substance Renewed 6 epig
Book Ref
Wiggins,David: 'Sameness and Substance Renewed' [CUP 2001], p.157
A Reaction
Wiggins quotes this with strong approval. Personally I am inclined to think that identity may admit of no degrees in human thought, because that is the only way we can do it, but the world is full of uncertain identities, at every level.
11874 | Real identity admits of no degrees [Reid] |
23649 | No one thinks two sheets possess a single whiteness, but all agree they are both white [Reid] |
23648 | First we notice and name attributes ('abstracting'); then we notice that subjects share them ('generalising') [Reid] |
23652 | We must first conceive things before we can consider them [Reid] |
23651 | Universals are not objects of sense and cannot be imagined - but can be conceived [Reid] |
23650 | Only individuals exist [Reid] |