Argumenta – Journal of Analytic Philosophy

The following seems to be a truism in modern day philosophy: No agent can have had other parents (IDENTITY). IDENTITY shows up in discussions of moral luck, parenting, gene editing, and population ethics. In this paper, I challenge IDENTITY. I do so by showing that the most plausible arguments that can be made in favor of IDENTITY do not withstand critical scrutiny. The paper is divided into four sections. In the first, I document the prevalence of IDENTITY. In the second, I examine a defense of IDENTITY on the basis of genetic considerations. In the third, I examine a defense of IDENTITY that I call gamete essentialism. In the fourth, I return to genetic considerations to wrap up the paper.

One of the most famous articulations of IDENTITY can be found in Saul Kripke’s Naming and Necessity. In a thought experiment about Queen Elizabeth, Kripke asks: “How could a person originating from different parents, from a totally different sperm and egg, be this very woman?”. He then argues…

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