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Full Idea
Wiggins says that coincidence is possible only between objects of different kinds. Trees and cats coincide with aggregates of matter, but never trees with trees or cats with cats.
Gist of Idea
Objects can only coincide if they are of different kinds; trees can't coincide with other trees
Source
report of David Wiggins (Sameness and Substance Renewed [2001]) by Theodore Sider - Four Dimensionalism 5.3
Book Ref
Sider,Theodore: 'Four Dimensionalism' [OUP 2003], p.154
A Reaction
At first glance this sounds quite plausible, but I think this commitment to the priority of kinds produces huge confusion, given that we only derive our notions of kinds from inductions derived from individuals. Language perpetuates old inductions.
| 16796 | Locke may accept coinciding material substances, such as body, man and person [Locke, by Pasnau] |
| 12970 | We can imagine two bodies interpenetrating, as two rays of light seem to [Leibniz] |
| 14744 | Objects can only coincide if they are of different kinds; trees can't coincide with other trees [Wiggins, by Sider] |
| 14750 | Two entities can coincide as one, but only one of them (the dominant sortal) fixes persistence conditions [Burke,M, by Sider] |
| 13401 | The idea of coincident objects is a last resort, as it is opposed to commonsense naturalism [Jubien] |
| 12024 | If we combined two clocks, it seems that two clocks may have become one clock. [Forbes,G] |
| 16080 | Is it possible for two things that are identical to become two separate things? [Rudder Baker] |
| 13918 | Holes, shadows and spots of light can coincide without being identical [Lowe] |
| 14743 | The stage view of objects is best for dealing with coincident entities [Sider] |
| 12820 | Without extensional mereology two objects can occupy the same position [Simons] |