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Single Idea 12054

[filed under theme 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / e. Individuation by kind ]

Full Idea

A system of secondary substances with a claim to separate reality into its genuine primary substances must arise from an understanding of a set of principles of activity on the basis of which identities can be glossed in terms of determinate relations.

Gist of Idea

Secondary substances correctly divide primary substances by activity-principles and relations

Source

David Wiggins (Substance [1995], 4.5.1)

Book Ref

'Philosophy: a Guide Through the Subject', ed/tr. Grayling,A.C. [OUP 1995], p.222

A Reaction

I translate this as saying that individual essences are categorised according to principles which explain behaviour and relations. I'm increasingly bewildered by the 'secondary substances' Wiggins got from 'Categories', and loves so much.

The 14 ideas from 'Substance'

12057 Matter underlies things, composes things, and brings them to be [Wiggins]
12047 We refer to persisting substances, in perception and in thought, and they aid understanding [Wiggins]
12056 An ancestral relation is either direct or transitively indirect [Wiggins]
12055 Sortal predications are answers to the question 'what is x?' [Wiggins]
12059 A river may change constantly, but not in respect of being a river [Wiggins]
12063 Sortal classification becomes science, with cross reference clarifying individuals [Wiggins]
12064 The category of substance is more important for epistemology than for ontology [Wiggins]
12065 Seeing a group of soldiers as an army is irresistible, in ontology and explanation [Wiggins]
12049 Naming the secondary substance provides a mass of general information [Wiggins]
12050 Substances contain a source of change or principle of activity [Wiggins]
12052 We never single out just 'this', but always 'this something-or-other' [Wiggins]
12051 If the kinds are divided realistically, they fall into substances [Wiggins]
12053 'Human being' is a better answer to 'what is it?' than 'poet', as the latter comes in degrees [Wiggins]
12054 Secondary substances correctly divide primary substances by activity-principles and relations [Wiggins]