Full Idea
Identity between objects occurs in 'How Mary makes a chocolate cake is identical to how my grandfather used to make it', but does this show that 'how Mary makes a chocolate cake' aims to pick out an entity?
Gist of Idea
If two processes are said to be identical, that doesn't make their terms refer to entities
Source
Thomas Hofweber (Ontology and the Ambitions of Metaphysics [2016], 02.3)
Book Reference
Hofweber,Thomas: 'Ontology and the Ambitions of Metaphysics' [OUP 2018], p.26
A Reaction
This is a counterexample to the Fregean thought that the criterion for the existence of the referent of a singular term is its capacity to participate in an identity relation. Defenders of the Fregean view are aware of such examples.