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Single Idea 14660
[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 9. Essence and Properties
]
Full Idea
Is it the case that any property had essentially by anything is had essentially by everything that has it?
Gist of Idea
If a property is ever essential, can it only ever be an essential property?
Source
Alvin Plantinga (World and Essence [1970], III)
Book Ref
Plantinga,Alvin: 'Essays in the Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 2003], p.65
A Reaction
Plantinga says it is not true, but the only example he can give is Socrates having the property of 'being Socrates or Greek'. I take it to be universally false. There are not two types of property here. Properties sometimes play an essential role.
The
44 ideas
from Alvin Plantinga
16472
|
Plantinga's actualism is nominal, because he fills actuality with possibilia
[Stalnaker on Plantinga]
|
16469
|
Plantinga has domains of sets of essences, variables denoting essences, and predicates as functions
[Plantinga, by Stalnaker]
|
16470
|
Plantinga's essences have their own properties - so will have essences, giving a hierarchy
[Stalnaker on Plantinga]
|
14662
|
Possible worlds clarify possibility, propositions, properties, sets, counterfacts, time, determinism etc.
[Plantinga]
|
14663
|
Are propositions and states of affairs two separate things, or only one? I incline to say one
[Plantinga]
|
14664
|
Necessary beings (numbers, properties, sets, propositions, states of affairs, God) exist in all possible worlds
[Plantinga]
|
14666
|
Socrates is a contingent being, but his essence is not; without Socrates, his essence is unexemplified
[Plantinga]
|
13132
|
A snowball's haecceity is the property of being identical with itself
[Plantinga, by Westerhoff]
|
14642
|
Expressing modality about a statement is 'de dicto'; expressing it of property-possession is 'de re'
[Plantinga]
|
14643
|
'De dicto' true and 'de re' false is possible, and so is 'de dicto' false and 'de re' true
[Plantinga]
|
14646
|
An object has a property essentially if it couldn't conceivably have lacked it
[Plantinga]
|
14647
|
Surely self-identity is essential to Socrates?
[Plantinga]
|
14648
|
Could I name all of the real numbers in one fell swoop? Call them all 'Charley'?
[Plantinga]
|
14649
|
Can we find an appropriate 'de dicto' paraphrase for any 'de re' proposition?
[Plantinga]
|
14650
|
Maybe proper names involve essentialism
[Plantinga]
|
14651
|
What Socrates could have been, and could have become, are different?
[Plantinga]
|
1475
|
It is logically possible that natural evil like earthquakes is caused by Satan
[Plantinga, by PG]
|
1474
|
Moral evil may be acceptable to God because it allows free will (even though we don't see why this is necessary)
[Plantinga, by PG]
|
11891
|
Possibilities for an individual can only refer to that individual, in some possible world
[Plantinga, by Mackie,P]
|
18383
|
Plantinga says there is just this world, with possibilities expressed in propositions
[Plantinga, by Armstrong]
|
20704
|
A possible world contains a being of maximal greatness - which is existence in all worlds
[Plantinga, by Davies,B]
|
9084
|
Propositions can't just be in brains, because 'there are no human beings' might be true
[Plantinga]
|
9085
|
If propositions are concrete they don't have to exist, and so they can't be necessary truths
[Plantinga]
|
9086
|
The idea of abstract objects is not ontological; it comes from the epistemological idea of abstraction
[Plantinga]
|
9087
|
Theists may see abstract objects as really divine thoughts
[Plantinga]
|
11984
|
Asserting a possible property is to say it would have had the property if that world had been actual
[Plantinga]
|
11982
|
If possible Socrates differs from actual Socrates, the Indiscernibility of Identicals says they are different
[Plantinga]
|
11983
|
It doesn't matter that we can't identify the possible Socrates; we can't identify adults from baby photos
[Plantinga]
|
11980
|
A possible world is a maximal possible state of affairs
[Plantinga]
|
11985
|
If individuals can only exist in one world, then they can never lack any of their properties
[Plantinga]
|
11986
|
The counterparts of Socrates have self-identity, but only the actual Socrates has identity-with-Socrates
[Plantinga]
|
11987
|
Counterpart Theory absurdly says I would be someone else if things went differently
[Plantinga]
|
6356
|
Maybe a reliable justification must come from a process working with its 'proper function'
[Plantinga, by Pollock/Cruz]
|
16435
|
Plantinga proposes necessary existent essences as surrogates for the nonexistent things
[Plantinga, by Stalnaker]
|
14652
|
'De re' modality is as clear as 'de dicto' modality, because they are logically equivalent
[Plantinga]
|
14653
|
X is essentially P if it is P in every world, or in every X-world, or in the actual world (and not ¬P elsewhere)
[Plantinga]
|
14655
|
The 'identity criteria' of a name are a group of essential and established facts
[Plantinga]
|
14654
|
Properties are 'trivially essential' if they are instantiated by every object in every possible world
[Plantinga]
|
14658
|
'Being Socrates' and 'being identical with Socrates' characterise Socrates, so they are among his properties
[Plantinga]
|
14656
|
Does Socrates have essential properties, plus a unique essence (or 'haecceity') which entails them?
[Plantinga]
|
14657
|
Does 'being identical with Socrates' name a property? I can think of no objections to it
[Plantinga]
|
14659
|
We can imagine being beetles or alligators, so it is possible we might have such bodies
[Plantinga]
|
14660
|
If a property is ever essential, can it only ever be an essential property?
[Plantinga]
|
14661
|
Essences are instantiated, and are what entails a thing's properties and lack of properties
[Plantinga]
|