The Stoic Criterion of Identity Author(s): David Sedley Source: Phronesis, Vol. 27, No. 3 (1982), pp. 255-275 Published by: Brill Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4182156 Accessed: 20-02-2016 22:38 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Brill is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Phronesis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.103.149.52 on Sat, 20 Feb 2016 22:38:00 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The Stoic Criterionof Identity DAVID SEDLEY The story startswith a scene from an earlyGreek comedy. Its authoris the Syracusancomic playwrightEpicharmus, and it probablydates from the opening decades of the fifth centuryB.C. The following reconstructionis based on one verbatim quotation of twelve lines, plus two indirect referencesto it in later authors.' CharacterA is approached by CharacterB for payment of his sub- scription to the running expenses of a forthcoming banquet. Finding himself out of funds, he resortsto asking B the followingriddle: 'Say you took an odd numberof pebbles,or if you like an even number, and chose to add or subtracta pebble: do you think it would still be the same number?' 'No,' says B.