PHIL 3401 (Metaphysics) 3/12 class

For our class tomorrow, 3/12 read the essays by Evans and Stalnaker on the syllabus, and also
see the editors’ introduction. Then read what is below.

Both writers agree that identity itself cannot be vague, though our talk about it can be so.

Evans gives us a proof in his one-page essay. He argues that a and b have one property
different in that a is determinately a, which b is not. And so a and b cannot be identical, by
Leibniz’s Law. This is contrary to the assumption that a and b are vaguely identical made in the
very first premiss of Evans’ argument. And as that assumption leads us to a contradiction, it
must be false: a and b cannot be vaguely identical. [This kind of proof is called a reductio ad
absurdum argument, where you prove something false by first assuming its truth and then
showing that it leads to a contradiction or an absurdity. It is used, for example, in the Euclidean
geometry you studied in school.]

Stalnaker mentions an argument by Salmon that is very much like Evans.’ He also argues that
identity statements can be vague if it is unclear what their referent is. Relational statements can
also be vague for similar reasons.

Using the example of the Bookbinder’s restaurant in Philadelphia, which has two restaurants
competing over which is its true descendant, Stalnaker suggests the matter is indeterminate.

This leads us to a contrast between two different metaphysical views about how things persist
or endure over time. On the four-dimensionalist view Stalnaker prefers, enduring things have
both spatial and temporal parts. And so persons, institutions, objects etc. are identical with their
histories. A person is their entire life, and what you see right now is a mere time-slice.

In contrast, on the three-dimensionalist position, things do not have temporal parts and are
wholly present at each time. Stalnaker objects that it is hard for this view to explain vague
identity as due to indeterminacy of reference.

That’s it for this week. We’ll go on to our next topic, properties, next Tuesday, and discuss
Quine’s essay “Natural Kinds.”