dellindividuazione

Dell’individuazione (often written dell’individuazione) is a term used in philosophy and related disciplines to denote the set of questions and criteria by which entities are distinguished as distinct individuals within a given domain. It concerns what makes a thing numerically identical to a particular object and what grounds its persistence over time or across possible worlds, beyond mere labeling or classification.

In contrast to identificazione, which is the act of recognizing or naming an entity, dell’individuazione seeks to specify the criteria that establish individuality. Central issues include what features count as constitutive grounds of individuation—spatial–temporal position, causal history, constitution, or functional role—and how these grounds interact with theories of persistence, such as endurantism and perdurantism. Debates also address constitution problems (for example, whether a statue is identical to the lump of clay from which it was formed) and how mereological relations (parts and wholes) affect identity.

Beyond metaphysics, the notion appears in the philosophy of science, biology, and cognitive science, where it underpins discussions about how populations, artifacts, or cognitive representations are individuated. The term is sometimes used to analyze methodological questions, such as how researchers determine when two observations refer to the same entity or different ones.