“The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter”
E949488
“The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” is a philosophical paper by Kit Fine that argues for a metaphysical distinction between material objects and the matter that constitutes them.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T11850462 — 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: “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” Context triple: [Kit Fine, hasWritten, “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter”]
-
A.
The Givenness of Things
The Givenness of Things is a collection of essays by Marilynne Robinson that explores theology, philosophy, and humanism through reflective, intellectually rigorous prose.
-
B.
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics is a foundational philosophical work by Immanuel Kant that concisely outlines and defends the key ideas of his critical philosophy, especially those developed more fully in the Critique of Pure Reason.
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C.
“Identity and Predication”
“Identity and Predication” is a seminal philosophical work by Gareth Evans that examines the logic and metaphysics of identity, reference, and predicative structure in language.
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D.
essay "Designation and Existence"
"Designation and Existence" is a philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that examines how language refers to objects and tackles issues surrounding reference to non-existent entities.
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E.
Ontology, Identity, and Modality
Ontology, Identity, and Modality is a collection of influential essays by philosopher Peter van Inwagen that explores fundamental issues in metaphysics, including existence, identity, and possibility.
- 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: “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” Target entity description: “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” is a philosophical paper by Kit Fine that argues for a metaphysical distinction between material objects and the matter that constitutes them.
-
A.
The Givenness of Things
The Givenness of Things is a collection of essays by Marilynne Robinson that explores theology, philosophy, and humanism through reflective, intellectually rigorous prose.
-
B.
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics
Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics is a foundational philosophical work by Immanuel Kant that concisely outlines and defends the key ideas of his critical philosophy, especially those developed more fully in the Critique of Pure Reason.
-
C.
“Identity and Predication”
“Identity and Predication” is a seminal philosophical work by Gareth Evans that examines the logic and metaphysics of identity, reference, and predicative structure in language.
-
D.
essay "Designation and Existence"
"Designation and Existence" is a philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that examines how language refers to objects and tackles issues surrounding reference to non-existent entities.
-
E.
Ontology, Identity, and Modality
Ontology, Identity, and Modality is a collection of influential essays by philosopher Peter van Inwagen that explores fundamental issues in metaphysics, including existence, identity, and possibility.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (35)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic article
ⓘ
philosophical paper ⓘ |
| arguesAgainst | the thesis that material objects are identical with their constituting matter ⓘ |
| author | Kit Fine NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| citedIn |
discussions of the statue–lump problem
ⓘ
literature on the metaphysics of material constitution ⓘ |
| contributesTo |
the problem of material constitution
ⓘ
theory of objects and their parts ⓘ |
| field | analytic metaphysics ⓘ |
| hasAuthorAffiliation | New York University NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasConsequenceFor |
criteria of identity for material things
ⓘ
distinction between objects and aggregates of matter ⓘ ontology of ordinary objects ⓘ |
| hasPerspective | anti-reductionist view of material objects to their matter ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalIssue |
essential properties of objects
ⓘ
modal properties of material objects ⓘ persistence through change ⓘ relation between objects and their constitutive matter ⓘ |
| hasPhilosophicalPosition | non-identity of material objects with their matter ⓘ |
| influenced |
debates on constitution in metaphysics
ⓘ
philosophical discussions of material objects and their matter ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainClaim | A material thing is not identical to the matter that constitutes it ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
constitution
ⓘ
identity ⓘ material objects ⓘ mereology ⓘ metaphysics ⓘ persistence conditions ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| relatedWorkByAuthor |
Reasoning with Arbitrary Objects
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Things and Their Parts NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| supportsView | there is a metaphysical distinction between a material object and its matter ⓘ |
| usesExample |
ordinary material objects
ⓘ
statue and lump of clay ⓘ |
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: “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” Description of subject: “The Non-Identity of a Material Thing and Its Matter” is a philosophical paper by Kit Fine that argues for a metaphysical distinction between material objects and the matter that constitutes them.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.