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Single Idea 14647

[filed under theme 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / d. Individuation by haecceity ]

Full Idea

If anything is essential to Socrates, surely self-identity is.

Gist of Idea

Surely self-identity is essential to Socrates?

Source

Alvin Plantinga (De Re and De Dicto [1969], p.37)

Book Ref

Plantinga,Alvin: 'Essays in the Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 2003], p.37

A Reaction

This is the modern move of Plantinga and Adams, to make 'is identical with Socrates' the one property which assures the identity of Socrates (his 'haecceity'). My view is that self-identity is not a property. Plantinga wonders about that on p.44.

The 21 ideas with the same theme [a special property marking a thing's uniqueness]:

13787 Doesn't each thing have an essence, just as it has other qualities? [Plato]
16160 For Aristotle, things are not made individual by some essential distinguishing mark [Aristotle, by Frede,M]
14665 We can call the quality of Plato 'Platonity', and say it is a quality which only he possesses [Boethius]
13094 The haecceity is the featureless thing which gives ultimate individuality to a substance [Duns Scotus, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
22127 Scotus said a substantial principle of individuation [haecceitas] was needed for an essence [Duns Scotus, by Dumont]
13075 No two things are quite the same, so there must be an internal principle of distinction [Leibniz]
13105 The laws-of-the-series plays a haecceitist role [Leibniz, by Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
15807 A haecceity is a property had necessarily, and strictly confined to one entity [Chisholm]
15805 Being the tallest man is an 'individual concept', but not a haecceity [Chisholm]
13132 A snowball's haecceity is the property of being identical with itself [Plantinga, by Westerhoff]
14647 Surely self-identity is essential to Socrates? [Plantinga]
14658 'Being Socrates' and 'being identical with Socrates' characterise Socrates, so they are among his properties [Plantinga]
16463 Adams says actual things have haecceities, but not things that only might exist [Adams,RM, by Stalnaker]
14508 A 'thisness' is a thing's property of being identical with itself (not the possession of self-identity) [Adams,RM]
14511 There are cases where mere qualities would not ensure an intrinsic identity [Adams,RM]
11866 The idea of 'thisness' is better expressed with designation/predication and particular/universal [Wiggins]
11117 Haecceities implausibly have no qualities [Jubien]
13393 Any entity has the unique property of being that specific entity [Jubien]
13104 Haecceity as property, or as colourless thisness, or as singleton set [Cover/O'Leary-Hawthorne]
10995 A haecceity is a set of individual properties, essential to each thing [Read]
11883 A haecceity is the essential, simple, unanalysable property of being-this-thing [Mackie,P]