Identity and Discrimination This updated edition of Identity and Discrimination, first published in 1990 and the first book by well-known philosopher Timothy Williamson, is now reissued with the inclusion of significant new material. This major work influential in philosophy of perception and the theory of vagueness continues in an original and rigorous way to highlight the necessity of discrimination and the thresholds which determine the approximate criteria of identity. Williamson s proposal for an original and rigorous theory links identity, a relation central to metaphysics, and indiscriminability, a relation central to epistemology. He provides a distinctive cognitive account of the nature of discrimination, with important applications to the philosophy of perception and the theory of vagueness. The book pioneers the use of epistemic logic to solve the notorious paradoxes of indiscriminability, and develops the application of techniques from mathematical logic to understand issues about identity over time and across possible worlds.

Identity and DiscriminationThis updated edition of Identity and Discrimination, first published in 1990 and the first book by well-known philosopher Timothy Williamson, is now reissued with the inclusion of significant new material. This major work - influential in philosophy of perception and the theory of vagueness - continues in an original and rigorous way to highlight the necessity of discrimination and the thresholds which determine the approximate criteria of identity.Williamson's proposal for an original and rigorous theory links identity, a relation central to metaphysics, and indiscriminability, a relation central to epistemology. He provides a distinctive cognitive account of the nature of discrimination, with important applications to the philosophy of perception and the theory of vagueness. The book pioneers the use of epistemic logic to solve the notorious paradoxes of indiscriminability, and develops the application of techniques from mathematical logic to understand issues about identity over time and across possible worlds.

Preface to the Revised Edition ixPreface to the First Edition xiiiIntroduction 11 Concepts of Indiscriminability 41.1 Indiscriminability and Cognition 51.2 Formal Features of Indiscriminability 101.3 The Intentionality of Indiscriminability 141.4 Direct and Indirect Discrimination 201.5 Further Reflections 212 Logics of Indiscriminability 242.1 Logical Apparatus 242.2 The Non-Transitivity of Indiscriminability 343 Paradoxes of Indiscriminability 434 Concepts of Phenomenal Character 484.1 Presentations of Characters 504.2 Presentation-Sensitivity 544.3 The Identity of Characters 625 Logics of Phenomenal Character 655.1 Maximal M-Relations 655.2 Ignorance and Indeterminacy 735.3 Matching the Same Experiences 826 Paradoxes of Phenomenal Character 886.1 The Paradox of Observational Predicates 896.2 The Paradox of Phenomenal Predicates 936.3 The Failure of Observationality 996.4 Sorites Arguments and Necessary Ignorance 1037 Generalizations 1097.1 Maximal M-Relations as Minimal Revisions 1097.2 Examples 1147.3 Necessary Conditions for Personal Identity 1167.4 Sufficient Conditions 1217.5 Close Relations 1238 Modal and Temporal Paradoxes 1268.1 A Modal Paradox 1268.2 Two Temporal Paradoxes 1358.3 Comparisons 1429 Criteria of Identity 1449.1 Forms 1449.2 Functions 148Appendix Maximal M-Relations and the Axiom of Choice 154Notes (to the First Edition) 158Additional Notes (to the Revised Edition) 165References (to the First Edition) 171Additional References (to the Revised Edition) 176Index 179