History of Philosophy Workshop: Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra (University of Oxford), "Bolzano's Argument for the Identity of Indiscernibles"

Abstract: In his Wissenschaftlehre Bolzano rejected some Leibnizian principles, for instance the Principle of Sufficient Reason, and accepted others, for instance the Principle of Identity of Indiscernibles. Not only does he accept the Principle of Identity of Indiscernibles, he gives an original, interesting, and intriguing argument for it. In this talk I shall examine the relevant passage, attempt a reconstruction of Bolzano's argument and then I shall evaluate it.