Theo Todman's Web Page - Paper Abstracts

Philosophers Index Abstract

1. This article presents a theory of the (time-variant) "constitution" relation, which obtains between two distinct objects which occupy the same place at the same time.
2. It explains why pairs of them (eg. a gold statue¹ and the gold of the statue², a person and his or her body) are indiscernible in a variety of logically independent respects, such as place, color, shape, and weight.
3. It accounts for the formal features – notably, the asymmetry – of the constitution relation. (Recall that identity is symmetrical.)
4. In rebutting a variety of attempts to subvert David Wiggins' argument that distinct objects can spatially coincide, the article offers the following:
   1. A general argument against relativizing identity (eg. sortally³ or temporally);
   2. Some explanation of the theoretical point of concepts of continuants;
   3. An anti-reductionist⁴ argument in favor of admitting constituted objects (eg. organisms) in addition to objects which constitute them (eg. collections of fundamental particles).