Grazer Philosophische Studien

Volume 1, 1975

Individuation
Some Thomistic Questions and Answers

The epistemological problem of individuation concerns the conditions under which we can individuate or identify particular things. I t is argued that these conditions presuppose that each of us can apprehend his own individual essence or haecceity. The metaphysical problem of individuation concerns the question: In virtue of what can it be said that two things which are counterparts of each other are two and not one? It is argued that here, too, we must appeal to the concept of an individual essence or haecceity. The views presented here seem to be in accord with those of St. Thomas Aquinas.