Essay 13-Identity and Category

Introduction

In essay 9 and essay 10 we have discussed the concepts of property and difference. However, the concept of difference is defined only as “not sharing one form,” without further elaboration. On the other hand, we may actually explore difference deeper and create a more formal understanding, but not definition, of difference. Utilizing the concept of property, we will explore difference through the concepts of identity and category in this essay.

Identity

What is identity? The answer depends on how we examine the concept and our perspective. When we ask the identity of a person, we seek to be asking about their properties, such as their gender, their height, their origin, their mass, their blood type, among other properties. So, on one hand, it seems identity seems to refer to the totality of an object’s properties, then what differentiates an object from its identity?

We may shed some light by understanding how the word “identity” is often used in language. We say that an object has an identity, or the identity of an object, but we do not say the identity is the object. As such we at least know that identity is a part of the object, therefore it’s a property. The next question is identifying what kind of property is an identity. It is easy to answer this, but difficult to view it as a property.

We understand from the earlier example of personal identity that identity is the collection of properties which constitutes the particular object. Here, the properties are treated as separate objects, separated analytically to examine the identity of the object. If we attempt to equate identity with an objective reality, the closest answer we can get is that it is the collection of separate properties which constitutes an object.

We can then understand this better by expanding the language. For example, if we say that something is part of the identity of an object, we mean that that something is part of the collection of properties which constitutes that particular object. Then when we say an object has an identity, we mean similar to the property definition of existence and we say that an object has a collection of properties which constitutes itself.

On the other hand, there is another way to define identity, that is as a linguistic object. In this case, identity functions similarly to a name, or a noun, as a word which represents another object. The difference is that while a name is mapped to the total object, identity is mapped to every property of the object. In summary, identity is the description of every property of the particular object. As such, an identity is always composed of many words, as by definition it is a description.

The next question is, which definition is more “correct”? The answer is, none. Each definition is correct for their respective fields. The objective definition is generally more proper for fundamental philosophy as it is concerned with the objective reality. The linguistic definition is more proper for linguistic philosophy, when we attempt to understand language and the connection between language and reality. As such our usage depends on the field of discussion.

How can we connect this to difference? We understand initially that difference means “not the same” or “not sharing one form.” However, we must understand what this means precisely. We may refer to the identity. If 2 objects are different (which they always are), it means that their identities, or collection of properties, are different. In other words, the properties that constitutes the objects do not match up, they are not one, they are not the same. The question is, how many properties must be different so that an object can be considered different?

The answer is, only 1 property must be different so 2 objects can be considered different. Why is that? The reason is any difference of property would affect the identity as the totality of property. As such property is attached to the totality as a part of the totality. Let us illustrate this with an example. Imagine 2 cars, where the only difference is 1 cm^2 of paint on the body of the car. That area of paint affects the totality of the properties of the cars, or their identities. As such their identities becomes different and thus the 2 objects are different.

The next question is then what do we mean when we say that 2 objects are the same? We certainly cannot say that they are completely identical, as identicality is shared only be one object, plurality always implies difference. Instead, when we say 2 objects are the same, what we mean is similarity, not identicality. With the concept of similarity, we now move on to the concept of categories.

Category

A category is a group or collection of objects which share identical properties. A simple example might be the category of transportation, which may contain objects such as planes, cars, buses, ships, trains, bikes, motorbikes, among other things. All of these objects are highly different, but they all possess a similarity that is to be a form of transportation. In other words, objects belong to the same category when they are united by one or more properties which are identical.

The concept of category is a fairly simple concept but is useful for the classification of objects within reality into neat categories. In fact, the study of any object in reality is always the study of categories. As we can never just analyse one particular object in this dynamic world, rather we analyse the category which changes relatively more slowly or doesn’t change at all. Why this is so will be explained within the immediate next essay.

As such this also resolves the problem of language, when we say that 2 objects are the same, what we really mean is they belong to the same category, instead of being 1 object. Again, philosophical language and ordinary language does not need to be the same, what is important is that they can be translated into each other and have equivalents. Regardless it is still important to be mindful of our language, and not say that 2 objects are “exactly the same,” as they never are.

Conclusion

We obtain 3 philosophical statements, “Objective identity is the totality of properties of an object,” “Identity is the description of the objective identity of an object,” and, ”Category is a collection of objects with one or more identical properties.” The next essay shall delve deeper into the concept of property and what makes an object, that is the intrinsic and extrinsic properties. For now, this essay is declared to be done.

This essay corresponds to the Indonesian version.