Showing posts with label vague identity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vague identity. Show all posts

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Existence and arbitrary parameters

Suppose vague existence and vague identity are impossible. Consider cases where a seemingly insignificant difference makes a difference as to existence. For instance, imagine that a tomato plant is slowly crushed. At some point, what is there is no longer identical with the original plant. (One can run the story diachronically or modify it and run at across worlds.)

There will thus be facts that determine when exactly the tomato plant ceased to exist. Moreover, these facts seem to call out for an explanation: Why should this precise degree of crushing make the plant not exist any more?

This degree of crushing seems to be an arbitrary parameter, either a contingent or a necessary one. One reaction to such an arbitrary parameter is to reject the assumption that there is no vagueness in existence or identity. But a theist has another option: The parameter is there, but it is wisely chosen by God.

Note 1: It may seem that an Aristotelian has an answer: The plant ceases to exist when its form departs. But that only pushes the question back to: Why does this precise degree of crushing make the form depart?

Note 2: There could be an indeterministic law of nature that says that given a degree of crushing there is a chance of the tomato plant ceasing to exist. But such a law would have seemingly arbitrary parameters, too.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Definitely incompatible properties and vague identity

Here's yet another version, probably unoriginal, version of the Gareth Evans argument against vague identity. Say that two properties P and Q are definitely incompatible if it is definitely true that it is impossible for an object to satisfy both of them.

  1. (Premise) For any property R, being definitely R and being vaguely R are definitely incompatible.
  2. (Premise) If P and Q are definitely incompatible, and x has P while y has Q, then x is definitely distinct from y.
  3. For any x, being definitely identical with x is definitely incompatible with being vaguely identical with x. (By 1)
  4. (Premise) For any x, x is definitely identical with x.
  5. So, if y is vaguely identical with x, then y is definitely distinct from x. (By 2 and 3)
  6. So, there are no cases of vague identity.

One might want to weaken (1) to say that being definitely definitely R and being definitely vaguely R are definitely incompatible. We then need to strengthen (4) to say that x is definitely definitely identical with x, and our conclusion becomes the weaker conclusion that there is no definitely vague identity. But I suspect that if there is vague identity, there is definitely vague identity, so we can get the stronger conclusion as well.