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Single Idea 12056

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / A. Relations / 4. Formal Relations / c. Ancestral relation ]

Full Idea

x bears to y the 'ancestral' of the relation R just if either x bears R to y, or x bears R to some w that bears R to y, or x bears R to some w that bears R to some z that bears R to y, or.....

Gist of Idea

An ancestral relation is either direct or transitively indirect

Source

David Wiggins (Substance [1995], 4.10.1)

Book Ref

'Philosophy: a Guide Through the Subject', ed/tr. Grayling,A.C. [OUP 1995], p.231


A Reaction

A concept invented by Frege (1879).


The 14 ideas from 'Substance'

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