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Personal Identity

Contingent Identity

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. The idea of Contingent Identity arose₂ in "Gibbard (Allan) - Contingent Identity", which considers the TE of the Statue and the Clay³.
  2. The TE relates to the topic of Constitution⁴. We are to consider a statue and the lump of clay of which is constituted. If we arrange things carefully, the two might coincidentally come into and go out of existence at the same time. If so, are they not identical, given that they would seem to have all the same properties? Yet, they might not have been temporally coincident – in the normal case, the lump would be formed first, and only slowly be sculpted into a statue. So, they are only contingently identical, the argument goes. And this TE shows (it is said) that far from being a necessary relation, identity may only contingently hold.
  3. The logic of identity⁵ is so secure that it is sensible to look for other explanations of the TE. Of course, the divinations of just what is wrong with the TE are many, which doesn’t necessarily mean that the TE is misleading for any of these reasons.
  4. Baker⁶, for instance, has “relation to an art world” as one of the properties the Statue has which is not had by the Lump. So, by Leibniz’s Law⁷, the two are never identical.
  5. I’m suspicious of any TE involving artefacts⁸. Any Intuitions⁹ we have may be Conventional¹⁰ rather than discoveries.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. See also the Note on modality¹¹.
  2. The orthodox approach to the Logic of Identity¹² is to treat it as a necessary equivalence relation. I follow this approach.
  3. However, in response to various TEs¹³, deviant forms₁₄ of Identity have been devised, and some are still popular.
  4. I cover this topic in Chapter 4¹⁵ along with the other deviant approaches to Identity.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Gibbard (Allan) - Contingent Identity", 1997, Write-Up Note¹⁶, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read
• For a Page of Links¹⁷ to this Note, Click here.
• Works on – or related to (maybe only tangentially) – this topic that I’ve actually read¹⁸ include the following:-
  • General:
    1. "Baker (Lynne Rudder) - The Very Idea of Constitution", 2000, Write-Up Note¹⁹, Internal PDF Link
    2. "Gibbard (Allan) - Contingent Identity", 1997, Write-Up Note²⁰, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Hershenov (David) - Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'", 2007, Annotations, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Lewis (David) - Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies", 1971, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern", 2009
    6. "Thomas (Janice L.) - Criticisms of materialism - is the physical enough?", 2000
    7. "Zimmerman (Dean) - Bodily Resurrection: The Falling Elevator Model Revisited", 2010, Annotations, Internal PDF Link
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Akiba (Ken) - Identity Is Simple", 2000, Internal PDF Link, Read = 20%
    2. "Carter (William) - Contingent Identity and Rigid Designation", 1987, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Carter (William) - On Contingent Identity and Temporal Worms", 1982, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Castaneda (Hector-Neri) - Intensionality and Identity in Human Action and Philosophical Method", 1979, Internal PDF Link
    5. "Casullo (Albert) - The Contingent Identity of Particulars and Universals", 1984, Internal PDF Link
    6. "Correia (Fabrice) - Comments on Varzi", 2005, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Funkhouser (Eric) - Notes on Gibbard, 'Contingent Identity'", 2014, No Abstract, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 33%
    8. "Gallois (Andre) - Rigid Designation and the Contingency of Identity", 1986, Internal PDF Link
    9. "Hawthorne (John) - Identity", 2003, Read = 7%
    10. "Keefe (Rosanna) - Contingent Identity and Vague Identity", 1995, Internal PDF Link
    11. "Kripke (Saul) - Identity and Necessity", 2001, Internal PDF Link, Read = 10%
    12. "Lowe (E.J.) - Necessity and Identity", 2002
    13. "Miller (Kristie) - The Metaphysical Equivalence of Non-Unitary Three- and Four-dimensionalism", 2007
    14. "Noonan (Harold) - Can One Thing Become Two?", 1978, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
    15. "Noonan (Harold) - Counterpart Theory and the Necessity of Identity", 1980, Internal PDF Link
    16. "Noonan (Harold) - Identity", 2004-9, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
    17. "Noonan (Harold) - Indeterminate Identity, Contingent Identity and Abelardian Predicates", 1991, Internal PDF Link
    18. "Ramachandran (Murali) - An Alternative Translation Scheme For Counterpart Theory", 1989
    19. "Robinson (Denis) - Re-Identifying Matter", 1982, Internal PDF Link
    20. "Salmon (Nathan) - Principles of Cross-World Identification", 2005
    21. "Stalnaker (Robert) - Counterparts and Identity", 2003
    22. "Yablo (Stephen) - Identity, Essence, and Indiscernibility", 1987, Internal PDF Link

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• For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder²¹.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 2:

1. Or at least was thereby brought to my attention as an undergraduate.

Footnote 14:

• I’m not sure if this is the correct terminology.

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Table of the Previous 9 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	3963	Contingent Identity
01/05/2022 18:20:10	3637	Contingent Identity
01/10/2021 13:17:46	3508	Contingent Identity
09/02/2021 21:59:02	3330	Contingent Identity
17/09/2020 23:45:36	2759	Contingent Identity
12/07/2018 10:36:29	4840	Contingent Identity
04/07/2015 17:41:17	2627	Contingent Identity
26/11/2007 23:25:26	84	Contingent Identity
12/08/2007 10:17:46	80	Contingent Identity

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Contingent Identity	Logic of Identity

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Artifacts	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Baker	Baker - The Very Idea of Constitution	Constitution
Convention	Gibbard - Contingent Identity	Intuition	Leibniz	Logic of Identity
Modality	Note Links Explanation	Plug Note Apologia	Statue and the Clay	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)
Thought Experiments	Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Baker - Personal Identity Over Time	Baker - Persons in the Material World	Baker - The Coherence Of the Idea of Material Constitution	Baker - The Very Idea of Constitution, 2, 3	Clones
Coincidence	Logic of Identity	Only 'X' and 'Y' Principle	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4, 5	Statue and the Clay
Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It), 2	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Thesis - Current Stance
Thesis - Personal Identity, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Akiba (Ken)	Identity Is Simple	Paper	2
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Personal Identity Over Time	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons in the Material World	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Precis of 'Persons & Bodies: A Constitution View'	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	The Coherence Of the Idea of Material Constitution	Paper		Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	The Very Idea of Constitution	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Borst (C.V.), Ed.	The Mind-Brain Identity Theory	Book
Carter (William)	On Contingent Identity and Temporal Worms	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Castaneda (Hector-Neri)	Intensionality and Identity in Human Action and Philosophical Method	Paper
Correia (Fabrice)	Comments on Varzi	Paper
Gallois (Andre)	Langford and Ramachandran on Occasional Identities	Paper
Gallois (Andre)	Rigid Designation and the Contingency of Identity	Paper
Gibbard (Allan)	Contingent Identity	Paper		Yes
Hawthorne (John)	Identity	Paper	2
Hershenov (David)	Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'	Paper	2, 3, 4	Yes
Keefe (Rosanna)	Contingent Identity and Vague Identity	Paper	2, 3
Kripke (Saul)	Identity and Necessity	Paper	2, 3
Lewis (David)	Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies	Paper		Yes
Look (Brandon C.)	The Metaphysics of Material Beings: Constitution, Persistence, and Identity	Paper		Yes
Miller (Kristie)	The Metaphysical Equivalence of Non-Unitary Three- and Four-dimensionalism	Paper
Noonan (Harold)	Identity	Paper	2
Noonan (Harold)	Identity: Introduction	Paper	2
Noonan (Harold)	Indeterminate Identity, Contingent Identity and Abelardian Predicates	Paper
Noonan (Harold), Ed.	Identity	Book
Olson (Eric)	Persistence	Paper		Yes
Papineau (David)	The Importance of Philosophical Intuition	Paper		Yes
Ramachandran (Murali)	An Alternative Translation Scheme For Counterpart Theory	Paper	2
Rea (Michael)	The Problem of Material Constitution	Paper
Robinson (Denis)	Re-Identifying Matter	Paper
Salmon (Nathan)	Principles of Cross-World Identification	Paper
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper		Yes
Stalnaker (Robert)	Counterparts and Identity	Paper	2
Thomas (Janice L.)	Criticisms of materialism - is the physical enough?	Paper	2	Yes
Thomas (Janice L.)	The identity theory	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 04 (Basic Metaphysical Issues)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 07 (The Constitution View and Arguments for It)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 12 (Conclusion)	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Clones	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Coincidence	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Current Position	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Logic of Identity	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Only 'X' and 'Y' Principle	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Statue and the Clay	Paper		Yes
Yablo (Stephen)	Identity, Essence, and Indiscernibility	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5
Zimmerman (Dean)	Bodily Resurrection: The Falling Elevator Model Revisited	Paper	2, 3	Yes

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Akiba (Ken)	Identity Is Simple	Paper - Cited	American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Oct., 2000), pp. 389-404	20%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Persons and Bodies: A Constitution View	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	The Very Idea of Constitution	Paper - Cited	Baker (Lynne) - Persons and Bodies, Chapter 2, pp. 27-58	Yes
Baxter (Donald L.M.)	Temporary and Contingent Instantiation as Partial Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	International Journal for Philosophical Studies, 26 (5):763-780 (2018)	17%
Bostock (David)	Kripke on Identity and Necessity	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 27, No. 109, Oct., 1977, pp. 313-324	No
Carter (William)	Contingent Identity and Rigid Designation	Paper - Cited	Mind, 96, No. 382, Apr., 1987, pp. 250-255	No
Carter (William)	On Contingent Identity and Temporal Worms	Paper - Cited	Philosophical Studies 41: 213-230, 1982	No
Castaneda (Hector-Neri)	Intensionality and Identity in Human Action and Philosophical Method	Paper - Cited	Nous, Vol. 13, No. 2 (May, 1979), pp. 235-260	No
Funkhouser (Eric)	Metaphysics, Spring 2014	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Funkhouser (Eric) - Metaphysics, Spring 2014	94%
Funkhouser (Eric)	Notes on Gibbard, 'Contingent Identity'	Paper - By Subtopic	Funkhouser (Eric) - Metaphysics, Spring 2014	No
Funkhouser (Eric)	Notes on Kripke, 'Identity and Necessity'	Paper - By Subtopic	Funkhouser (Eric) - Metaphysics, Spring 2014	No
Gallois (Andre)	Defending the Contingency of Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Gallois - Occasions of Identity, 1998, Chapter 6	No
Gallois (Andre)	Occasions of Identity : a Study in the Metaphysics of Persistence, Change, and Sameness	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Gallois (Andre) - Occasions of Identity : a Study in the Metaphysics of Persistence, Change, and Sameness	No
Gallois (Andre)	Rigid Designation and the Contingency of Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, Vol. 95, No. 377 (Jan., 1986), pp. 57-76	No
Gasser (Georg), Ed.	Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death?	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	96%
Gibbard (Allan)	Contingent Identity	Paper - Cited	Rea - Material Constitution - A Reader	Yes
Hacking (Ian)	On the Reality of Existence and Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Dec., 1978), pp. 613-632	No
Hershenov (David)	Review of Nancey Murphy's 'Bodies and Souls, or Spirited Bodies?'	Paper - Cited	Religious Studies, 43:2, June 2007, 237-242	Yes
Keefe (Rosanna)	Contingent Identity and Vague Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis 55.3, 1995, 183-190	No
Kripke (Saul)	Identity and Necessity	Paper - By Subtopic	Loux - Metaphysics - Contemporary Readings	10%
Lewis (David)	Counterparts of Persons and Their Bodies	Paper - Cited	Lewis - Philosophical Papers Volume I, Part 1: Ontology, Chapter 4	Yes
Lewis (David)	Philosophical Papers Volume I	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Loux (Michael), Ed.	Metaphysics - Contemporary Readings	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Loux (Michael), Ed. - Metaphysics - Contemporary Readings	1%
Lowe (E.J.)	A Survey of Metaphysics	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Lowe (E.J.) - A Survey of Metaphysics	No
Lowe (E.J.)	Necessity and Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Lowe - A Survey of Metaphysics, Chapter 5	No
Lowe (E.J.)	On the Alleged Necessity of True Identity Statements	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind, 1982, 579-584	No
Noonan (Harold)	Can One Thing Become Two?	Paper - By Subtopic	Noonan - Objects and Identity, 1980, Chapter 13	5%
Noonan (Harold)	Can One Thing Become Two?	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Apr., 1978), pp. 203-227	No
Noonan (Harold)	Counterpart Theory and the Necessity of Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Noonan - Objects and Identity, 1980, Chapter 11	No
Noonan (Harold)	Indeterminate Identity, Contingent Identity and Abelardian Predicates	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Quarterly 41.163, Apr. 1991, pp. 183-193	No
Noonan (Harold)	Objects and Identity: An Examination of Relative Identity and its Consequences	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Noonan (Harold) - Objects and Identity: An Examination of Relative Identity and its Consequences	10%
Ramachandran (Murali)	An Alternative Translation Scheme For Counterpart Theory	Paper - By Subtopic	Analysis 49, 1989, 131-141	No
Rea (Michael), Ed.	Material Constitution - A Reader	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	41%
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Shoemaker (David)	Personal Identity, Rational Anticipation, and Self-Concern	Paper - Cited	Shoemaker (David) - Personal Identity and Ethics: A Brief Introduction, 2009, Chapter 2	Yes
Stalnaker (Robert)	Counterparts and Identity	Paper - By Subtopic	Stalnaker - Ways a World Might Be, Chapter 6	No
Stalnaker (Robert)	Ways a World Might Be: Metaphysical and Anti-Metaphysical Essays	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Stalnaker (Robert) - Ways a World Might Be: Metaphysical and Anti-Metaphysical Essays	1%
Thomas (Janice L.)	Criticisms of materialism - is the physical enough?	Paper - Cited	Thomas (Janice L.) - Mind and Person in the Philosophy of Religion	Yes
Thomas (Janice L.)	Mind and Person in the Philosophy of Religion	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Contingent Identity	Paper - By Subtopic		Yes
Zimmerman (Dean)	Bodily Resurrection: The Falling Elevator Model Revisited	Paper - Cited	Gasser (Georg) - Personal Identity and Resurrection: How Do We Survive Our Death? 2010	Yes

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Text Colour Conventions

1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2026

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