Genidentity

As introduced by <a href="/facts/Kurt_Lewin/1ynHQMnf">Kurt Lewin</a>, genidentity is an existential relationship underlying the genesis of an object from one moment to the next. What we usually consider to be an object really consists of multiple entities, which are the phases of the object at various <a href="/facts/Time/HceJKUGB">times</a>. Two objects are not identical because they have the same properties in common, but because one has developed from the other. 
Lewin introduced the concept in his 1922 <a href="/facts/Habilitationsschrift/VSEhfx78">Habilitationsschrift</a> Der Begriff der Genese in Physik, Biologie und Entwicklungsgeschichte. It is today perhaps the only surviving evidence of Lewin's influence on the philosophy of science. However, this concept never became an object of widespread discussion and debate in its own terms. Rather, it was extracted from its context by philosophers such as <a href="/facts/Rudolf_Carnap/0nqgBwnw">Rudolf Carnap</a>, Hans Hermes, <a href="/facts/Hans_Reichenbach/603mt0UL">Hans Reichenbach</a>, <a href="/facts/Adolph_Gr%C3%BCnbaum/k1BuMxDo">Adolph Grünbaum</a>, and <a href="/facts/Bas_van_Fraassen/AS43Inky">Bas van Fraassen</a> who incorporated this concept into their own theories such as the <a href="/facts/Topology_of_the_universe/EJFEm9bw">topology of the universe</a> or the axiomatization of <a href="/facts/Mechanics/A3yHLQA5">mechanics</a>. Lewin's idea was to compare and contrast the concept of genidentity in various branches of science, thereby laying bare the characteristic structure of each and making their classification possible in the first place.

Genidentity open-in-new

Genidentity