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Re: [ontolog-forum] The class of the planet Venus

To: <doug@xxxxxxxxxx>, "'[ontolog-forum] '" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Matthew West" <dr.matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:55:41 +0100
Message-id: <4fffd47e.6e0cb50a.386e.ffff8584@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Dear Doug,    (01)

I think I was more or less with you until here.    (02)

DF> while a copy of a copy of a
> copy of a lifted fingerprint is the same thing as the lifted fingerprint.    (03)

MW: I would think a copy of a copy of a fingerprint was a copy of a copy of
a fingerprint, and not the same thing.    (04)

Regards    (05)

Matthew West                            
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http://www.matthew-west.org.uk/    (06)

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontolog-forum-
> bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of doug foxvog
> Sent: 12 July 2012 21:33
> To: [ontolog-forum]
> Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] The class of the planet Venus
> 
> On Wed, July 11, 2012 20:38, Chris Menzel wrote:
> > On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 7:29 PM, joel luis carbonera
> <joelcarbonera@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> The various issues of identity usually ignore that identity is something
> assigned to things by a sentient being.  Identity is assigned to some
> collection of things and the assigner maintains the identity as a 4D worm
by
> having it assigned to different collections of things at different times.
> 
> [How's this for a way to stir up trouble!]
> 
> We take collections of experiences and group them into things depending
upon
> perceived patterns.  Groups of patterns that remain generally stable over
time
> are more likely to be identified as things.  Once we find patterns of
patterns
> that recur, we identify them as types of things.  Once we've identified a
type
> of thing by a pattern of patterns, whenever some group of patterns matches
> that pattern we define it as an instance of that type.
> 
> By defining something as an instance of a type, we indicate some types of
> aspects of the thing we consider important and some which we do not for
the
> thing's identity.
> 
> For most things, a change of location is immaterial to assigned identity.
> The loss or gain of atoms is also ignored.  The loss or gain of chunks of
> matter of over 1% of the size of a physical thing may or may not result in
a
> change of identity depending upon how crucial that affected mass is in the
> assigned identity criteria.  A main criteria for identity is whether
various
> properties that are true of unaltered thing are also true of the altered
> thing.  Which properties those are depend upon the way the thing is
classified
> and for what purposes.
> 
> One person could identify a certain mass as a blob of Soft Clay, while
another
> could identify it as a Piece of Art.  If person A rolls it into a ball,
the
> blob continues to exist merely experiencing a change of shape, while the
piece
> of art ceases to exist.  If person B fires the blob before Person A acts,
the
> piece of art is preserved for the future, while the blob of soft clay
ceases
> to exist.
> 
> Aristotle's essential vs. accidental changes are descriptions of patterns
that
> are used or not used in defining a pattern that is used to define a thing.
> 
> Whether something is the same "thing" as something at another time depends
> upon the purpose of the question being asked.  In most cases, cleaning
> something does not change its identity, but to a fingerprint expert,
cleaning
> may cause a piece of evidence to cease to exist, while a copy of a copy of
a
> copy of a lifted fingerprint is the same thing as the lifted fingerprint.
> 
> >> This case, seems to be related to the diachronic identity problem.
> >> http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-time/
> 
> > Yes, that is the temporal manifestation of (one aspect of) the problem.
> > The
> > modal analog is sometimes called the problem of transworld identity:
> > http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-transworld/
> 
> > -chris
> 
> 
> 
> 
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>     (08)


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