If identity is necessary, a theory committed to Hesperus is automatically committed to Phosphorus, even if the theory asserts Hesperus exists and Phosphorus does not.

But some less pressing objections remain that suggest that metaphysical necessity is too blunt an instrument to capture the notion of ontological commitment. Three will be mentioned here. First, just as extensional criteria could not distinguish between ontological commitments to co-extensional kinds, the modal criteria cannot distinguish between ontological commitments to co-intensional kinds. A theory that is committed to triangular polygons will also be committed to trilateral polygons, and v