Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Saunders MacLane, Dicaearchus and Sydney Shoemaker

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2 ideas

14. Science / C. Induction / 5. Paradoxes of Induction / a. Grue problem
'Grue' only has causal features because of its relation to green [Shoemaker]
     Full Idea: Perhaps 'grue' has causal features, but only derivatively, in virtue of its relation to green.
     From: Sydney Shoemaker (Causal and Metaphysical Necessity [1998], III)
     A reaction: I take grue to be a behaviour, and not a property at all. The problem only arises because the notion of a 'property' became too lax. Presumably Shoemaker should also mention blue in his account.
Grueness is not, unlike green and blue, associated with causal potential [Shoemaker]
     Full Idea: Grueness, as defined by Goodman, is not associated in the way greenness and blueness are with causal potentialities.
     From: Sydney Shoemaker (Causality and Properties [1980], §06)
     A reaction: Expressed rather more simply in Idea 7296. 'Grue' is a characteristic production of a predicate nominalist (i.e. Goodman), and that theory is just wrong. The account of properties must mesh with the account of induction.