Full Idea
It is a metaphysically necessary truth, obtaining in virtue of the essences of such objects (of what a bronze statue and a lump of bronze are) that when it exists a bronze statue coincides with a lump of bronze, which is numerically distinct from it.
Gist of Idea
The essence of lumps and statues shows that two objects coincide but are numerically distinct
Source
E.J. Lowe (What is the Source of Knowledge of Modal Truths? [2013], 6)
Book Reference
-: 'Mind' [-], p.21
A Reaction
I think it is nonsense to treat the lump and statue as two objects. It is essential that a statue be made of a lump, and essential that a lump have a shape, so to treat the lump and the shape as two different objects is a failure to grasp the essence.
Related Idea
Idea 16546 The essence of a bronze statue shows that it could be made of different bronze [Lowe]