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Full Idea
Given the accepted linkage between a thing's essence and its identity, the rejection of essences makes a complete mess out of questions of individuation.
Gist of Idea
If you reject essences, questions of individuation become extremely difficult
Source
Robert Pasnau (Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 [2011], 27.6)
Book Ref
Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.654
A Reaction
I note that he talks of a thing having 'identity', contra the view of identity as a two-place relation. I agree with this, but there is a chicken-egg problem. Do I perceive an identity and surmise an essence, or surmise an essence and deduce identity?
| 14524 | Bodies are combinations of shape, size, resistance and weight [Epicurus] |
| 12971 | If two individuals could be indistinguishable, there could be no principle of individuation [Leibniz] |
| 19379 | The law of the series, which determines future states of a substance, is what individuates it [Leibniz] |
| 10194 | Two things can only be distinguished by a distinct property or a distinct relation [Black] |
| 17668 | It is likely that particulars can be individuated by unique conjunctions of properties [Armstrong] |
| 8520 | An individual is a union of a group of qualities and a position [Quinton, by Campbell,K] |
| 17647 | Kripke individuates objects by essential modal properties (and presupposes essentialism) [Kripke, by Putnam] |
| 15455 | Total intrinsic properties give us what a thing is [Lewis] |
| 8303 | Criteria of identity cannot individuate objects, because they are shared among different types [Lowe] |
| 16680 | Scholastics thought Quantity could be the principle of individuation [Pasnau] |
| 16785 | If you reject essences, questions of individuation become extremely difficult [Pasnau] |