Full Idea
Functionalists in Fodor's camp usually say that a genuine property is one that figures in some causal laws.
Gist of Idea
Functionalists in Fodor's camp usually say that a genuine property is one that figures in some causal laws
Source
John Heil (Philosophy of Mind [1998], Ch.4)
Book Reference
Heil,John: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Routledge 1998], p.118
A Reaction
The problem is that anything which can't figure in a causal law will therefore be undetectable, so we could only speculate about the existence of such properties, never know them.
Related Idea
Idea 15743 Defining natural properties by means of laws of nature is potentially circular [Lewis]