Full Idea
It seems to me that if Adam does have essential properties, there is no procedure at all for finding out what they are.
Gist of Idea
If there are essential properties, how do you find out what they are?
Source
Roderick Chisholm (Identity through Possible Worlds [1967], p.85)
Book Reference
'The Possible and the Actual', ed/tr. Loux,Michael J. [Cornell 1979], p.85
A Reaction
My tentative suggestion is that the essential properties are those which explain the nature, power, function and role of Adam in the 'actual' world. Whatever possibilities he acquires, he had better retain the capacity to be the First Man.