Single Idea 14070

[catalogued under 9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 12. Origin as Essential]

Full Idea

A proper name like 'Goliath' denotes a thing in the actual world, and invokes a sortal with certain persistence criteria. Hence its origin makes a statue the statue that it is, and if statues in different worlds have the same beginning, they are the same.

Clarification

A 'sortal' term says what sort of thing it is

Gist of Idea

A particular statue has sortal persistence conditions, so its origin defines it

Source

Allan Gibbard (Contingent Identity [1975], III)

Book Reference

-: 'Journal of Symbolic Logic' [-], p.195


A Reaction

Too neat. There are vague, ambiguous and duplicated origins. Persistence criteria can shift during the existence of a thing (like a club which changes its own constitution). In replicated statues, what is the status of the mould?