Abstract
Our everyday experience is well acquainted with the reality of constancy (identity) and change. Persistence over time – continuity – is normally accompanied by an awareness of change – discontinuity. Although the temptation is immediately to enter into logicalmathematical problems, this article wants to highlight first of all the underlying ontological issues and distinctions required to gain a better understanding of the familiar term “identity”. In order to achieve this goal the idea of identity is related to the nature of an entity and its properties. Plato’s account of identity and change paved the way for an enduring philosophical wrestling with this problem. A static logic of identity may rule out change (Von Kibèd), but on the basis of Galileo and Einstein the original insight of Plato, namely that change can only be established on the basis of constancy, acquires a new natural scientific meaning. Acknowledging the more-than-functional and multifunctional nature of the identity of an entity helps to avoid any attempt that wants to explain the nature of entities exhaustively in terms of one aspect only. It also supports the distinction between conceptual knowledge and concept-transcending knowledge. In the final analysis the human awareness of the identity of entities amidst change explores the foundational interconnectedness between the kinematic and the physical aspects in the context of concept-transcending knowledge.Copyright information
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