Identity and indiscernibility

Review of Symbolic Logic 4 (2):171-185 (2011)
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Abstract

The notion of strict identity is sometimes given an explicit second-order definition: objects with all the same properties are identical. Here, a somewhat different problem is raised: Under what conditions is the identity relation on the domain of a structure first-order definable? A structure may have objects that are distinct, but indiscernible by the strongest means of discerning them given the language (the indiscernibility formula). Here a number of results concerning the indiscernibility formula, and the definability of identity, are collected and a number of applications discussed.

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10.1017/s1755020310000328

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Citations of this work

Identity and individuality in quantum theory.Steven French - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
On Kinds of Indiscernibility in Logic and Metaphysics.Adam Caulton & Jeremy Butterfield - 2012 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 63 (1):27-84.
Dissecting weak discernibility of quanta.Tomasz Bigaj - 2015 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 50:43-53.
On Discernibility and Symmetries.Tomasz Bigaj - 2015 - Erkenntnis 80 (1):117-135.

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Philosophy of mathematics: structure and ontology.Stewart Shapiro - 1997 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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