The 'ad hoc sortal' objection presupposes that sortals must be antecedently fixed, but Wiggins's sortal essentialism shows sortals are grounded in natural kinds, not logical convenience.
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Wiggins(as a reference to a specific philosopher's technical framework)
David Wiggins is a British philosopher who developed important theories about identity—how we determine what makes something the same thing over time, like what makes you still 'you' even though your body changes.
grounded in(whether distinctness or identity is explained by intrinsic features)
To be explained by or to have its reason or basis in something else—like how a tree being wet is grounded in (explained by) recent rain.
natural kinds(Water is offered as a paradigm example of a natural kind individuated by microstructure)
Categories of things in nature that share an essential microstructure, used to ground essentialism about species and substances
sortal(Used to ground identity claims between objects picked out by singular terms)
A kind or category (G) that an object falls under, which supports identity and counting claims of the form 'the same G as'