Locke on Essence and Identity
I first became interested in the relationship between Locke's anti essentialism and his theory of identity in a first-year graduate course on metaphysics taught at Syracuse University by Jose Benardete. I had until then approached Locke as a "safe", comm
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PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES SERIES VOLUME 98
Founded by WilfridS. Sellars and Keith Lehrer
Editor Keith Lehrer, University ofArizona, Tucson
AssociateEditor Stewart Cohen , Arizona State University, Tempe
Board ofConsulting Editors Lynne Rudder Baker, University ofMassachusettsat Amherst Radu Bogdan, Tulane University, New Orleans Marian David, University ofNotre Dame Allan Gibbard, University ofMichigan Denise Meyerson, Macquarie University Francois Recanati, Institut Jean-Nicod, EHESS, Paris Stuart Silvers, Clemson University Barry Smith, State University ofNew York at Buffalo Nicholas D. Smith , Lewis & Clark College
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
LOCKE ON ESSENCE AND IDENTITY by
CHRISTOPHER HUGHES CONN The University ofthe South, Sewanee, TN, U.SA
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.LP. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-94-010-3765-5 ISBN 978-94-007-1005-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-1005-4
Printed an acid-free paper
AII Rights Reserved © 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Origina1ly published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2003 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.
CONTENTS
PREFACE........•..••..•••••.••••••.•••.•••••••.••••••..•••..••••••••.•••..•....•.......•..•....•.•.•••..••••••.•.•.•.••• ix INTRODUCTION ..••.•......•..•.•....••...•..•.•...••..•.•.••••••••.••••.••.•••••••..•.••.•.•.••••.•.••••.•..•••.•..1 1
I. SUBSTANCES , ESSENCES, AND KINDS
I. Substances and the Spatiotemporal World 2. Substanc es and their properties 3. Essential properties and natural kinds
1 8 IO 12
II. IDENTITY AND P ERSISTENCE
I . Identity 2. Persistence 3. Identity, persistence, and Lockean anti-essentialism 4. A brief look ahead LOCKE'S CRITIQUE OF ESSENTIALISM I. LOCKE ON THE ACCIDENTAllESSENTIAL PROPERTY DISTINCTION
I . The sortal relativity of essential properties 2. Unsorted particulars and accidental properties 3. Real essences of sorted and unsorted parti culars II. LOCKE ON THE NATURE AND EXISTENCE OF NATURAL KINDS
I . The "second opinion" regarding natural kinds 2. The "fi rst opinion" regarding natural kinds 3. Locke 's epistemological and semantic arguments against real kinds 4. Locke 's appeal to monsters and changelings III. LoCKE ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF CORPOREAL SUBSTANCES I . Sorting particulars into kinds 2. Forming sortal concepts IV. LOCK E ON KINDS AND PARTICULARS
v
12 20 22 24 25 26 26 28
30 32 33 36 40 44 47 47 49 53
CONTENTS
VI
LOCKE'S THEORY OF IDENTITY I. LOCKE 's C ONCEPT OF IDENTITy
1. The psychological origin of this concept 2. Diachronic and sync