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Single Idea 12015

[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 3. Individual Essences ]

Full Idea

A non-trivial individual essence is properties other than a) those following from a de dicto truth, b) properties of existence and self-identity (or their cognates), c) properties derived from necessities in some other category.

Gist of Idea

Non-trivial individual essence is properties other than de dicto, or universal, or relational

Source

Graeme Forbes (The Metaphysics of Modality [1985], 5.1)

Book Ref

Forbes,Graeme: 'The Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 1985], p.99

A Reaction

[I have compressed Forbes] Rather than adding all these qualificational clauses to our concept, we could just tighten up on the notion of a property, saying it is something which is causally efficacious, and hence explanatory.

The 40 ideas with the same theme [each individual has its own distinct essence]:

13774 Things don't have every attribute, and essence isn't private, so each thing has an essence [Plato]
11039 A primary substance reveals a 'this', which is an individual unit [Aristotle]
12311 Particulars are not definable, because they fluctuate [Aristotle]
17846 The essence of a single thing is the essence of a particular [Aristotle]
12069 Essence is the cause of individual substance, and creates its unity [Aristotle, by Witt]
12070 Individual essences are not universals, since those can't be substances, or cause them [Aristotle, by Witt]
12088 Aristotelian essence is not universal properties, but individual essence [Aristotle, by Witt]
11998 Aristotle does not accept individual essences; essential properties are always general [Aristotle, by Kung]
12083 Aristotle's essence explains the existence of an individual substance, not its properties [Aristotle, by Witt]
11382 Aristotle takes essence and form as a particular, not (as some claim) as a universal, the species [Aristotle, by Politis]
16097 To be a subject a thing must be specifiable, with some essential properties [Aristotle, by Gill,ML]
12284 Everything that is has one single essence [Aristotle]
12810 We can conceive an individual without assigning it to a kind [Locke, by Jolley]
16786 You can't distinguish individuals without the species as a standard [Locke]
15992 Many individuals grouped under one name vary more than some things that have different names [Locke]
15990 Every individual thing which exists has an essence, which is its internal constitution [Locke]
12931 Particular truths are just instances of general truths [Leibniz]
12811 We can't know individuals, or determine their exact individuality [Leibniz]
19575 Refinement of senses increasingly distinguishes individuals [Novalis]
20376 We begin with concepts of kinds, from individuals; but that is not the essence of individuals [Nietzsche]
14435 The essence of individuality is beyond description, and hence irrelevant to science [Russell]
16520 We see properties necessary for a kind (in the definition), but not for an individual [Ayer]
15808 A traditional individual essence includes all of a thing's necessary characteristics [Chisholm]
16979 It makes no sense to ask of some individual thing what it is that makes it that individual [Strawson,P]
13571 Scientific essentialism doesn't really need Kripkean individual essences [Ellis]
11861 We can forget about individual or particularized essences [Wiggins]
14637 Only individuals have essences, so numbers (as a higher type based on classes) lack them [McMichael]
11885 Only individual essences will ground identities across worlds in other properties [Forbes,G, by Mackie,P]
12014 An individual essence is a set of essential properties which only that object can have [Forbes,G]
12015 Non-trivial individual essence is properties other than de dicto, or universal, or relational [Forbes,G]
11173 Being a man is a consequence of his essence, not constitutive of it [Fine,K]
12244 Nominalism is consistent with individual but not with universal essences [Oderberg]
15121 An individual essence is a necessary and sufficient profile for a thing [Hawthorne]
11877 An individual essence is the properties the object could not exist without [Mackie,P]
11882 No other object can possibly have the same individual essence as some object [Mackie,P]
11886 There are problems both with individual essences and without them [Mackie,P]
13230 Particular essence is often captured by generality [Steiner,M]
15113 Individuals are perceived, but demonstration and definition require universals [Koslicki]
24067 Hylomorphic compounds need an individual form for transworld identity [Koslicki]
10940 An 'individual essence' is possessed uniquely by a particular object [Rami]