samenessis

Samennessis is a hypothetical philosophical term used to discuss identity by positing sameness as a fundamental relational criterion. The name blends sameness with the suffix -is to signal a doctrine in which sameness, rather than a fixed set of properties or purely external relations, underwrites or constitutes identity across contexts.

Its central claim is that identity statements are true or false primarily by virtue of a sameness relation that is primitive or internally definable within a theory. This contrasts with essentialist accounts that tie identity to intrinsic properties and with purely external criteria that treat continuity or spatial-temporal connectedness as sufficient. In samennessis, sameness is the primary invariant that endures through transformations, reconstructions, or different descriptions of the same token.

Applications are mainly in thought experiments, ontology, and discussions of information tokens. In philosophy of mind or data management, a samenness framework would seek invariant relations to track persistence, allowing two descriptions to refer to the same thing even as surface properties change.

Critics argue that choosing a single primitive sameness relation can be arbitrary and underdetermined across domains. The approach risks vagueness about how to define invariants, and it may not resolve classic identity cases that require more than one criterion. Consequently, samenness is largely a speculative or illustrative concept rather than a settled position.

See also identity, sameness, object identity, persistence, indiscernibility, essentialism, relationism.