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Single Idea 15400

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 4. Intrinsic Properties ]

Full Idea

Lewis revised his analysis of duplication because he had assumed that as a matter of necessity perfectly natural properties are intrinsic, and that necessarily how a thing is intrinsically is determined completely by the natural properties it has.

Gist of Idea

We must avoid circularity between what is intrinsic and what is natural

Source

report of David Lewis (Defining 'Intrinsic' (with Rae Langton) [1998]) by Ross P. Cameron - Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties 'Analysis'

Book Ref

'Routledge Companion to Metaphysics', ed/tr. Le Poidevin/Simons etc [Routledge 2012], p.272


A Reaction

[This compares Lewis 1986:61 with Langton and Lewis 1998] I am keen on both intrinsic and on natural properties, but I have not yet confronted this little problem. Time for a displacement activity, I think....


The 18 ideas with the same theme [properties that involve no other objects]:

To seek truth, study the real connections between subjects and attributes [Aristotle]
Scientific properties are not observed qualities, but the dispositions which create them [Harré]
Extrinsic properties, unlike intrinsics, imply the existence of a separate object [Kim, by Lewis]
We must avoid circularity between what is intrinsic and what is natural [Lewis, by Cameron]
A property is 'intrinsic' iff it can never differ between duplicates [Lewis]
Ellipsoidal stars seem to have an intrinsic property which depends on other objects [Lewis]
Being alone doesn't guarantee intrinsic properties; 'being alone' is itself extrinsic [Lewis, by Sider]
Extrinsic properties come in degrees, with 'brother' less extrinsic than 'sibling' [Lewis]
A disjunctive property can be unnatural, but intrinsic if its disjuncts are intrinsic [Lewis]
All of the natural properties are included among the intrinsic properties [Lewis]
If a global intrinsic never varies between possible duplicates, all necessary properties are intrinsic [Cameron on Lewis]
Global intrinsic may make necessarily coextensive properties both intrinsic or both extrinsic [Cameron on Lewis]
If you think universals are immanent, you must believe them to be sparse, and not every related predicate [Lewis]
An 'intrinsic' property is one that depends on a thing and its parts, and not on its relations [Rosen]
Intrinsic properties are those an object still has even if only that object exists [Merricks]
An 'intrinsic' property is either found in every duplicate, or exists independent of all externals [Linnebo]
Essentialists say intrinsic properties arise from what the thing is, irrespective of surroundings [Cameron]
An object's intrinsic properties are had in virtue of how it is, independently [Cameron]