Relevant identity (Q1288138)

This is a well-written methodological paper about adding identity to the first-order relevance logic \({\mathbf R}\). It is argued that identity should satisfy reflexivity, symmetry, transitivity and relevant indiscernibility, viz.: \(x= y\) relevantly implies that \(Gx\) relevantly implies \(Gy\), where \(G\) is a relevant predicate constant. Substitutivity as a further axiom for identity is rejected, because proof-theoretically and semantically the resulting logic is less elegant than the substitution-free extension of \({\mathbf R}\). Moreover, some fragments of the system with substitution fail to be stable in a certain sense. They cannot be re-axiomatized by replacing the indiscernibility axiom by another indiscernibility axiom. The schematic predicate of the new axiom is required to be such that in the system in question it provably denotes a relevant property in the sense of Dunn's relevant predication theory. It is conjectured that also the full system with substitution fails to be stable.