Absolute Reference and Identity

Human beings crave absolutes.

Like a craving for chocolate -we desire things that comfort and satisfy us. Absolute references are something we crave - because we want things in our life that don't change. We want things that are constant - they're the same every time we encounter them. For some, it's mom's home cooking, or the bedroom that hasn't changed since the teenaged years, despite moving out. On a grander scale, an absolute reference might be someone's belief in, unchanging god, or a set of humanistic or nationalist principles that they are willing to die for.

With more earthly matters, we need absolute references as a basis to our relationships in family and society. My mother will always be my mother even if she decides to change her name. My first point is that we try to relate to people with the best absolute reference we can - in the case of my mother - it's that mother-child bond, which trumps any name. To this day, I don't call my mother by her real name - still mom. For others next best absolute reference is their given name. People to whom we have lesser relationships, we use their name, and that's how we build relationships and function in a larger society.

My second point is that identity is a function that serves to provide this absoulute reference. My observation is that the prevailing schools of identity management a) don't recognize the distinction between absolute reference and identity, and, b) follow the Descriptive School of Reference. The implication of this school of thought on identity is that if you gather enough information about an individual, the more sure it's him/her.

In keeping with Kripke, I believe that a) absolute reference is distinct from identity, and b) we should follow the Casual Theory of Reference, where our best references are actually arise from an unbroken chain of historical events (cause and effect). This is the avenue we must explore if we are to understand the nature of identity. I'm not advocating either/or. In both schools a different light is shed on the problem.

My personal prize in these musings is a simple yet profound insight that can shift our thinking as we craft policy, build system, and invent technologies.

'til then

Tim Bouma