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    Merely possible individuals lack any identity conditions ... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Possibilism can account for the truth of claims about merely possible individuals such as a possible child of Portman and Bush.

    Merely possible individuals lack any identity conditions that would distinguish one from another, making quantification over them incoherent.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Identity requires qualitative and spatiotemporal differences; merely possible individuals lack actual spatiotemporal location.
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    • 2.Without identity conditions, we cannot distinguish 'there exist two possible individuals' from 'there exists one,' making quantification meaningless.
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    • 3.Actual individuals are individuated by causal histories and physical properties; merely possible ones possess neither, leaving no principled individuation.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Abstract objects like numbers lack spatiotemporal properties yet have determinate identity conditions; so physicality isn't necessary for individuation.
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    • 2.Possible individuals can be individuated by their essential properties and role in possible worlds, not by actual physical differences.
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    • 3.If quantification over merely possibles were incoherent, modal discourse itself (e.g., 'there could be different people') would be meaningless—but it seems perfectly coherent.
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    Connections

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    Modality & Possibility1 linkedPhilosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    Abstract objects like numbers lack spatiotemporal properties yet have determinat...Actual individuals are individuated by causal histories and physical properties;...Identity requires qualitative and spatiotemporal differences; merely possible in...If quantification over merely possibles were incoherent, modal discourse itself ...
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    Possibilism can account for the truth of claims about merely possible individual...Possible individuals can be individuated by their essential properties and role ...Without identity conditions, we cannot distinguish 'there exist two possible ind...

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