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Does Indeterminacy Matter?
Author(s) -
Buford Christopher T.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
theoria
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1755-2567
pISSN - 0040-5825
DOI - 10.1111/theo.12006
Subject(s) - indeterminacy (philosophy) , corollary , identity (music) , epistemology , indeterminate , key (lock) , philosophy , task (project management) , law and economics , positive economics , sociology , economics , mathematics , computer science , aesthetics , computer security , pure mathematics , management
D erek P arfit has offered numerous arguments in an attempt to establish that identity is not what matters. J ens J ohannson has recently argued that P arfit's various arguments for the claim that identity is not what matters fail to establish what P arfit takes such arguments to establish. J ohannson contends that this is due in part to the invalidity of one of P arfit's key arguments, and the fact that P arfit ignores a position that is compatible with the conclusions of his successful arguments and the claim that identity is in fact what matters, namely, that I survive fission as either one of the fission products or the other, but it is indeterminate which one I survive as. I aim to establish here that both of J ohannson's assertions are problematic. As a corollary of this task, I hope to shed some light on the relationship between indeterminacy and fission‐based arguments for the claim that identity is not what matters.