Abstract

The individuation problem is one of many issues that occur in the analysis of metaphysics. What distinguishes something from all other beings, and especially from others in the same species? This question, in general, is answered in two different ways: things are individuated either by their matter or their forms. For example, the principle of individuation is matter according to Aristotle, materia signata according to Thomas Aquinas, haecceitas according to Duns Scotus, and the complete concept of any thing according to Leibniz. The implications of this problem are rather different in contemporary philosophy.