Complex Dynamical Systems and the Problems of Identity

Abstract

The philosophical problem of identity has a long history, dating back to ancient times of classical Greece. Quite early in the history of philosophy questions about the problem of identity arose in tandem with the recognition of change: If there is no change the problem of identity does not arise, since a static thing that undergoes no alterations is simply taken to be what it is—and can clearly be identified as such. Questions concerning sameness and difference arise, however, as soon as the thing in question changes. Is it the same thing (as before)?—an ontological question. By what criteria do we tell if it is or isn’t?—an epistemological question. So questions of identity often suggest the presence of difference, and differences in time—that is, change—occasion the even more difficult philosophical question of time. With the rise of modernity and its concern with the person, the question “Who am I? ” became an even more pressing philosophical issue. Interested not so much in the issue of what makes my body the same as