Indeterminate Identity Metaphysics and Semantics

Terence Parsons presents a lively and controversial study of philosophical questions about identity. Because many puzzles about identity remain unsolved, some people believe that they are questions that have no answers and that there is a problem with the language used to formulate them. Parsons explores a different possibility: that such puzzles lack answers because of the way the world is (or because of the way the world is not). He claims that there is genuine indeterminacy of identity in the world. He articulates such a view in detail and defends it from a host of criticisms.

Terence Parsons is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine.