Full Idea
A strong intuition shared by many philosophers is that some things that are in fact identical might not have been identical.
Gist of Idea
Is it possible for two things that are identical to become two separate things?
Source
Lynne Rudder Baker (Why Constitution is not Identity [1997], IV)
Book Reference
-: 'Journal of Philosophy' [-], p.611
A Reaction
This flies in the face of the Kripkean view that if Hesperus=Phosphorus then the identity is necessary. I don't think I have an intuition that some given thing might have been two things - indeed the thought seems totally weird. Amoeba? Statue/clay?