[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# i and minus i in ante rem structuralism

Mereology & mathematics · 

## Why it looked like it would break the theory

The numbers i and −i can be exchanged by an automorphism that preserves every structural relation. If identity must be grounded in a unique intrinsic or relational property, their distinctness appears unsupported.

## Why it failed

**The counterexample failed** because DSRP treats identity and other as roles within a distinction. The automorphism exchanges which element occupies which role; it does not eliminate the identity–other polarity itself. Structural indiscernibility is a fact about which relations distinguish the two positions, not a fact about whether the positions exist.

Settled by [R3](https://dsrpevidence.org/resolution/3). Not yet published.

[Read it](https://doi.org/10.1093/philmat/nkm042)

[All cases](https://dsrpevidence.org/counterexamples)