Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Machamer,P/Darden,L/Craver,C, U Kriegel / K Williford and Crawford L. Elder

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2 ideas

8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 1. Nature of Properties

13795	Properties only have identity in the context of their contraries [Elder]
	Full Idea: The very being, the identity, of any property consists at least in part in its contrasting as it does with its own proper contraries.
	From: Crawford L. Elder (Real Natures and Familiar Objects [2004], 2.4)
	A reaction: See Elder for the details of this, but the idea that properties can only be individuated contextually sounds promising.

8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 2. Powers as Basic

16556	Penicillin causes nothing; the cause is what penicillin does [Machamer/Darden/Craver]
	Full Idea: It is not the penicillin that causes the pneumonia to disappear, but what the penicillin does.
	From: Machamer,P/Darden,L/Craver,C (Thinking About Mechanisms [2000], 3.1)
	A reaction: This is a very neat example for illustrating how we slip into 'entity' talk, when the reality we are addressing actually concerns processes. Without the 'what it does', penicillin can't participate in causation at all.