Relativizations of the Principle of Identity
This paper begins by considering the Principle of Identity, tracing it from Leibniz' notions of indistinguishability, and arriving at an `informal' definition: ``two objects are identical iff they share the same properties, providing a formal expression in several systems including second-order logic: \(x=y\) iff \(\forall F(F(x)\leftrightarrow F(y))\), and set-theory: \(x=y\) iff \(\forall z(x\in z\leftrightarrow y\in z)\). The Principle is then naturally generalized to a `relativistic' sense of identity where two objects are identical relative to \(C\) iff there is no characteristic in \(C\) which distinguishes them, for example in the second-order logic we let \(F\) range over some set \(C\) of properties and say ``\(x\) is identical relative to \(C\), \(x=_Cy\) iff \(\forall F(F\in C\to(F(x)\leftrightarrow F(y)))\). The `relativized' notion of identity is briefly discussed in the context of quantum mechanics, which after all concerns elementary particles which are supposedly indistinguishable but not identical. The authors provide many references to other papers on related subjects, and briefly touch on `quasi-set' theory, developed precisely to provide a framework for this kind of discussion. In quasi-set theory the implication \(x\neq y\to\exists_Q z(x\in z\wedge y\not\in z)\) does not generally hold. The final sections of the paper deal with the Principle of Identity as it is expressed in logical rules, for example rules of substitution or deduction with particular interest in the law of `self deductibility', \(P\lvdash P\). The authors distinguish this `law' from identity in the earlier sense, and finish with a more detailed discussion of `Alphabar' logics, systems in which self deductibility does not hold. In an interesting section, they show how such systems can be derived and discuss in detail some of the distinctions and the model- and proof-theoretic issues which arise as a result of their construction.
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- A hierarchy of classical and paraconsistent logics
- Self-differing, aspects, and Leibniz's law
- Can identity be relativized?
- The fundamental laws of the theory of absolute identity
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