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Single Idea 10939

[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 5. Essence as Kind ]

Full Idea

According to 'sortal essentialism', an object could not have been of a radically different kind than it in fact is.

Gist of Idea

'Sortal essentialism' says being a particular kind is what is essential

Source

Adolph Rami (Essential vs Accidental Properties [2008], §4)

Book Ref

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.9

A Reaction

This strikes me as thoroughly wrong. Things belong in kinds because of their properties. Could you remove all the contingent features of a tiger, leaving it as merely 'a tiger', despite being totally unrecognisable?

The 21 ideas from Adolph Rami

10938 The extremes of essentialism are that all properties are essential, or only very trivial ones [Rami]
10934 Unlosable properties are not the same as essential properties [Rami]
10933 Physical possibility is part of metaphysical possibility which is part of logical possibility [Rami]
10932 If it is possible 'for all I know' then it is 'epistemically possible' [Rami]
10939 'Sortal essentialism' says being a particular kind is what is essential [Rami]
10940 An 'individual essence' is possessed uniquely by a particular object [Rami]
18333 Central idea: truths need truthmakers; and possibly all truths have them, and makers entail truths [Rami]
18335 There are five problems which the truth-maker theory might solve [Rami]
18334 The truth-maker idea is usually justified by its explanatory power, or intuitive appeal [Rami]
18339 The truth-making relation can be one-to-one, or many-to-many [Rami]
18340 It seems best to assume different kinds of truth-maker, such as objects, facts, tropes, or events [Rami]
18336 Internal relations depend either on the existence of the relata, or on their properties [Rami]
18338 Truth-making is usually internalist, but the correspondence theory is externalist [Rami]
18337 Correspondence theories assume that truth is a representation relation [Rami]
18341 Truth-makers seem to be states of affairs (plus optional individuals), or individuals and properties [Rami]
18342 Most theorists say that truth-makers necessitate their truths [Rami]
18343 Maybe a truth-maker also works for the entailments of the given truth [Rami]
18346 'Truth supervenes on being' only gives necessary (not sufficient) conditions for contingent truths [Rami]
18345 'Truth supervenes on being' avoids entities as truth-makers for negative truths [Rami]
18347 Deflationist truth is an infinitely disjunctive property [Rami]
18350 Truth-maker theorists should probably reject the converse Barcan formula [Rami]