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Full Idea
The whole of quantified modal logic collapses if essence is withdrawn.
Gist of Idea
Quantified modal logic collapses if essence is withdrawn
Source
Willard Quine (Intensions Revisited [1977], p.121)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Theories and Things' [Harvard 1981], p.121
A Reaction
Quine offers an interesting qualification to this crushing remark in Idea 13590. The point is that objects must retain their identity in modal contexts, as if I say 'John Kennedy might have been Richard Nixon'. What could that mean?
Related Idea
Idea 13590 Essences can make sense in a particular context or enquiry, as the most basic predicates [Quine]