Philosophy Dictionary of ArgumentsHome | |||
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Indistinguishability: when indistinguishability is used as an epistemic concept, an identity cannot be deduced from a given indistinguishability, e.g. in the case of mistaken material samples or color hues close to each other. If indistinguishability is determined with respect to a selected property, it is unproblematic. In the case of elementary particles, a complete description does not always lead to distinguishability. See also Leibniz's Law, Leibniz Principle, identity, partial identity, identification, distinctions, four dimensionalism._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
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Robert Stalnaker on Indistinguishability - Dictionary of Arguments
I 156 Distinguishability/Stalnaker: every thing is possibly distinguishable because possibly distinguishable things may be distinguished by their modal properties. >Modal properties. But distinguishable things are not necessarily distinguishable. Distinctions may be missing in other possible worlds. For that, we need an asymmetrical accessibility relation. That means you cannot look back. Information about the distinction is lost. >Accessibility. I 160 Solution: timeliness operator/Williamson/(s): in the actual world ... the information about each possible world accessible from the actual world is reflected in the actual world and therefore also in every other possible world in the model. I 156f Distinguishability/diversity/Stalnaker: in contrast, necessary diversity in the standard semantics is valid - but not in the counterpart theory. >Counterpart theory._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Stalnaker I R. Stalnaker Ways a World may be Oxford New York 2003 |