Matthew,
I can see how you got where you are. While identity is critical,
considering what it really means is "interesting". I can certainly see
concluding an identity is process. (01)
I have been using a somewhat different, but probably not incompatible view
where identity is a fundamental concept, that identity may have related
processes - it could be a process, have processes or have a role in
processes. An identity could also have a (3d) state as well as a (4d)
lifetime. So the key here is more "has a" than "is a". I would also
consider a "concept" to have identity, and this is not clearly a process. (02)
This identity is then the binding element between processes and state and is
probably the same as "continuant" as used on this list. While I can see the
philosophy behind it, requiring an identity to be a process makes a
commitment that may be more than I am comfortable with right now. (03)
How does this fit?
-Cory (04)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ontac-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ontac-dev-
> bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of West, Matthew R SIPC-DFD/321
> Sent: Friday, February 03, 2006 4:56 AM
> To: ONTAC Taxonomy-Ontology Development Discussion
> Subject: RE: [ontac-dev] Representation of attributes
>
> Dear Cory,
>
> > Matthew,
> > So is this concept of process subsume the idea of identity?
> > That is, is
> > everything that continues over time a "process" or can there
> > be "things"
> > with identity that are not process?
>
> MW: That's a good question. Ontologically, I'm inclined to think
> everything is a process, but some processes have a structure we
> consider to be physical objects. So Mt Everest looks like a pretty
> solid physical object on our timescale, but on a geological
> timescale it is a wave in the earth's crust. A grain of sand looks
> pretty inert, but inside there are atoms vibrating in a lattice.
>
> MW: Epistemologically, that these things may be true is usually
> not interesting, except perhaps in the case of living things.
>
> > Does a process have identity?
>
> MW: In 4D certainly. A process has a spatio-temporal extent, and
> the identity of all objects in 4D (in our version at least) is
> extensional.
>
>
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