Ground and Cardinality: The Two Dimensions of Identity Puzzles

Abstract Identity puzzles like the Ship of Theseus turn on two questions, not one. The first is a question of ground: in virtue of what does an object remain the same—the persistence of its matter, or the persistence of its form? The second is a question of cardinality: how many bearers is the situation allowed—one … Continue reading Ground and Cardinality: The Two Dimensions of Identity Puzzles

When Metaphysics Stops Lying: The Operational Bite of Constraint-Space

Deferential Realism commits the one sin contemporary philosophy cannot forgive: it measures power instead of defining it away. Philosophy has spent twenty-five centuries refining methods for talking about oppression while ensuring the conversation never routes to action. We have Foucault's genealogies (no prescription), Derrida's deconstructions (infinite deferral), and Heidegger's Being (explicitly apolitical). Even Marx, who … Continue reading When Metaphysics Stops Lying: The Operational Bite of Constraint-Space