Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment
E404585
Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment is a philosophical scenario that challenges the principle that no two distinct objects can share all their properties by imagining a universe containing only two perfectly identical spheres.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3971788 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment Context triple: [identity of indiscernibles, hasFamousExample, Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment]
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A.
Wigner’s friend thought experiment
Wigner’s friend thought experiment is a foundational quantum mechanics scenario that explores the role of observers and consciousness in measurement by considering how different observers can assign conflicting quantum states to the same system.
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B.
Einstein’s photon box
Einstein’s photon box is a famous thought experiment proposed by Albert Einstein to challenge the foundations of quantum mechanics by questioning the limits of energy-time uncertainty.
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C.
Paradoxes of motion
Paradoxes of motion are a set of philosophical arguments, attributed to Zeno of Elea, that challenge the coherence of motion and plurality by revealing apparent contradictions in their logical description.
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D.
Maxwell's demon thought experiment
Maxwell's demon thought experiment is a famous conceptual scenario in thermodynamics that imagines an intelligent being seemingly violating the second law by sorting fast and slow gas molecules without expending energy.
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E.
Einstein's elevator
Einstein's elevator is a famous thought experiment devised by Albert Einstein to illustrate the equivalence between gravitational and inertial effects, forming a key conceptual basis for general relativity.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment Target entity description: Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment is a philosophical scenario that challenges the principle that no two distinct objects can share all their properties by imagining a universe containing only two perfectly identical spheres.
-
A.
Wigner’s friend thought experiment
Wigner’s friend thought experiment is a foundational quantum mechanics scenario that explores the role of observers and consciousness in measurement by considering how different observers can assign conflicting quantum states to the same system.
-
B.
Einstein’s photon box
Einstein’s photon box is a famous thought experiment proposed by Albert Einstein to challenge the foundations of quantum mechanics by questioning the limits of energy-time uncertainty.
-
C.
Paradoxes of motion
Paradoxes of motion are a set of philosophical arguments, attributed to Zeno of Elea, that challenge the coherence of motion and plurality by revealing apparent contradictions in their logical description.
-
D.
Maxwell's demon thought experiment
Maxwell's demon thought experiment is a famous conceptual scenario in thermodynamics that imagines an intelligent being seemingly violating the second law by sorting fast and slow gas molecules without expending energy.
-
E.
Einstein's elevator
Einstein's elevator is a famous thought experiment devised by Albert Einstein to illustrate the equivalence between gravitational and inertial effects, forming a key conceptual basis for general relativity.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
counterexample proposal
ⓘ
metaphysical thought experiment ⓘ philosophical thought experiment ⓘ |
| assumes |
a universe containing only two spheres
ⓘ
no qualitative differences between the spheres ⓘ perfect spatial symmetry ⓘ |
| authorWork | Max Black ⓘ |
| challenges |
identity of indiscernibles
ⓘ
surface form:
Leibniz’s Law
identity of indiscernibles principle ⓘ |
| creator | Max Black ⓘ |
| debatedBy | metaphysicians ⓘ |
| debatedIn | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| describedIn | “The Identity of Indiscernibles” ⓘ |
| field |
metaphysics
ⓘ
philosophy of language ⓘ philosophy of logic ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
no external reference points in the universe
ⓘ
perfectly homogeneous surrounding space ⓘ spheres are distinguished only by being numerically two ⓘ two spheres share all qualitative properties ⓘ |
| hasInterpretation |
as a challenge to purely qualitative individuation
ⓘ
as support for primitive thisness (haecceity) ⓘ |
| influenced |
debates on qualitative vs numerical identity
ⓘ
discussions of haecceitism ⓘ modal metaphysics ⓘ |
| involves |
numerical distinctness
ⓘ
possible world semantics ⓘ qualitative indiscernibility ⓘ spatial relations ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
haecceity
ⓘ
identity of indiscernibles ⓘ individuation of objects ⓘ possible worlds ⓘ relational properties ⓘ symmetry and individuation ⓘ |
| philosophicalStatus | controversial ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1952 ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Leibniz’s identity of indiscernibles
ⓘ
Max Black ⓘ possible worlds theory ⓘ symmetry arguments in metaphysics ⓘ |
| supportsView | possibility of distinct but qualitatively indiscernible objects ⓘ |
| timePeriod | 20th century analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| usedAs | argument against strong versions of Leibniz’s Law ⓘ |
| usesExampleOf | two perfectly identical spheres ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment Description of subject: Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment is a philosophical scenario that challenges the principle that no two distinct objects can share all their properties by imagining a universe containing only two perfectly identical spheres.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
identity of indiscernibles
→
hasFamousExample
→
Max Black’s two identical spheres thought experiment
ⓘ