Law of Identity
“Everything that exists has a specific nature. Each entity exists as something in particular and it has characteristics that are a part of what it is.’
Aristotle
A dog is a dog. A dog is not a cat. A tree is not a plane. A red car is a red car and is not a blue car. The shorthand for this is: A=A
http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Metaphysics_Identity.html
I think I’ve written about this before and I bring this up again because I normally find it comforting – things are things. But, I recently encountered a situation where this utterly fell apart.
The former owners of my house had installed an air cleaner on the furnace/AC – this is essentially a filter, but more efficient.
I had only ever found these replacement filters at Home Depot and only rarely in the correct size: 20 x 24 x 4
It comes in a box and has a series of pleats that are installed on a wire grid. Expensive, frustrating to find, and difficult to install – but it lasts a year. And it had to be that size – the 20 x 24 x 6 simply would not fit. As I learned when I accidentally bought that size and had to return it. From then on, I had a picture on my phone of the box.
I had bought a couple at once and then I suddenly couldn’t ever find them anymore. I would check every time I went into Home Depot, but they only had the 20 x 24 x 6 – never the 20 x 24 x 4.
Enough time had passed that I had to replace it – no more delays. I checked online at the Home Depot site and when I put in the part number – right off the 20 x 24 x 4 box – it came up with 20 x 24 x 6 in the description.
Though when I zoomed in on the box picture on the site – it clearly said it was 20 x 24 x 4.
Something was wrong.
I made another trip to the store and a sea of 20 x 24 x 6 filters faced me. I went to customer service and asked they send someone to that section to help – hoping they had some hidden stash in a backroom.
When the guy showed up I explained my problem to him and he nodded sagely. The 20 x 24 x 6 was, now, the right size. They had changed the label on the box and this was now the one I needed.
Wait, what?
He went on to say that he had that kind of air cleaner and that lots of people had that same question.
I picked up one of the 20 x 24 x 6 with as about as much skepticism as I’ve ever had in a home improvement store. I thanked him, went to the checkout, and took my purchase home.
I didn’t put it in right away – knowing that whatever the outcome, I was going to be pissed off.
If it didn’t fit, then the guy was full of crap and gave me terrible advice. If it did fit, then the filter company was full of crap.
When I finally got around to installing it, the filter fit perfectly.
Now, we’re not talking part numbers – 20 x 24 x 4 are dimensions in inches. There are matching dimensions on the inside of my air cleaner. It was 20 x 24 x 4 and now it’s 20 x 24 x 6.
It’s like buying an 11 inch ruler and someone telling you – “oh, now that’s 12 inches”
No, No, NO! That is not how things work! A second lasts a second. An inch is an inch. The red car is a red car. THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!
I was livid – and also oddly relieved that I wasn’t crazy. Literally, the world was crazy.
And, on whatever bright-side there is when the physical dimensions of reality have completely broken down, at least they have them in stock.
The wrong sized ones. That are now the right size. And fit in a space smaller than they used to.
Sigh. A=A
Except when it’s sometimes B.