Full Idea
It is possible to have the same power (e.g. being poisonous) in virtue of having very different properties. ..So it is in virtue of a thing's properties that the thing has the powers that it has.
Gist of Idea
One power can come from different properties; a thing's powers come from its properties
Source
Sydney Shoemaker (Causality and Properties [1980], §03)
Book Reference
Shoemaker,Sydney: 'Identity, Cause and Mind' [OUP 2003], p.211
A Reaction
This strikes me as an accurate and helpful picture. It means that true properties give rise to powers, and categorial or relational or whimsical properties must have their ontological status judged by that standard.