Single Idea 15742

[catalogued under 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 4. Intrinsic Properties]

Full Idea

A property can be unnatural by reason of disjunctiveness, as the property of being tripartite-or-liquid-or-cubical is, and it is intrinsic if its disjuncts are.

Gist of Idea

A disjunctive property can be unnatural, but intrinsic if its disjuncts are intrinsic

Source

David Lewis (On the Plurality of Worlds [1986], 1.5)

Book Reference

Lewis,David: 'On the Plurality of Worlds' [Blackwell 2001], p.61


A Reaction

This strikes me as being utterly, shockingly and disgracefully wrong. A disjunction can't possibly be a property. Can a person have the property of being 'fat or thin'? A disjunction offers candidates for properties, not the properties themselves.

Related Idea

Idea 15741 All of the natural properties are included among the intrinsic properties [Lewis]