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Full Idea
This table is composed of molecules. …Could anything be this very object and not be composed of molecules? …It's hard to imagine under what circumstances you would have this very object and find that it is not composed of molecules.
Gist of Idea
Given that a table is made of molecules, could it not be molecular and still be this table?
Source
Saul A. Kripke (Naming and Necessity lectures [1970], Lecture 1)
Book Ref
Kripke,Saul: 'Naming and Necessity' [Blackwell 1980], p.47
A Reaction
This is the thesis of essentiality of constitution. Given that it is square, might it have been round? Yes. Given that it is wood, might it have been metal? No? Given that it is molecular, might it have been plasma? No. ….Maybe.
Related Idea
Idea 16991 No one seems to know the identity conditions for a material object (or for people) over time [Kripke]