Locke Identity

Locke explains that what is, is, and what is not, cannot be. When we see anything to be in any place in any instant of time, we are sure that it is that very thing, and not another, which at that same time exists in another place. And this is identity, because it is inconceivable that two things of the same kind should exist in the same at the same time; therefore all things that exists anwhere at anytime is there itself alone. He goes on to talk about the identity of substances, and there are three sorts of substances: God, Finite intelligences, and Bodies. First, God is without beginning, eternal, unalterable, and everywhere; and therefore His identity is undoubtable. Finite spirits have their own determinate time and place, and the relation to that time and place will always determine to each spirit its identity. Lastly, the same will hold true of every particle of matter, to which no addition or subtraction of matter be made. Locke says when concerning a living object there is something else that determines its identity. For an oak is the same oak when it is cut, and a man is the same man as he changes.