Constitution or Identity - Ontology of Lynne Rudder Baker

For nearly two decades new ontologies have been proposed that are based on the concept of constitution. A constitution is something close to identity in these theories. One such proposal was made by Lynne Rudder Baker who uses the concept of constitution to deal with such problems as criteria of the continuity of human persons or the relationship between a person and her body. She also applies her theory to such Aristotelian queries as the relationship bewteen a particular statue and the material from which it has been made. The author takes a critical approach to these proposals. Essentially he claims that Baker's theory is not clearly formulated. It is burdened with circularity and ambiguities. Her primitive terms are so vague that it is possible to draw entirely different conclusions from her assumptions. The conclusion is that the theory is too 'scholastic' in the deprecatory sense of the term.