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Single Idea 15742

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

Full Idea

A property can be unnatural by reason of disjunctiveness, as the property of being tripartite-or-liquid-or-cubical is, and it is intrinsic if its disjuncts are.

Gist of Idea

A disjunctive property can be unnatural, but intrinsic if its disjuncts are intrinsic

Source

David Lewis (On the Plurality of Worlds [1986], 1.5)

Book Ref

Lewis,David: 'On the Plurality of Worlds' [Blackwell 2001], p.61

A Reaction

This strikes me as being utterly, shockingly and disgracefully wrong. A disjunction can't possibly be a property. Can a person have the property of being 'fat or thin'? A disjunction offers candidates for properties, not the properties themselves.

Related Idea

Idea 15741 All of the natural properties are included among the intrinsic properties [Lewis]

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

18910 To seek truth, study the real connections between subjects and attributes [Aristotle]
15874 Scientific properties are not observed qualities, but the dispositions which create them [Harré]
15456 Extrinsic properties, unlike intrinsics, imply the existence of a separate object [Kim, by Lewis]
15400 We must avoid circularity between what is intrinsic and what is natural [Lewis, by Cameron]
15458 A property is 'intrinsic' iff it can never differ between duplicates [Lewis]
15459 Ellipsoidal stars seem to have an intrinsic property which depends on other objects [Lewis]
14979 Being alone doesn't guarantee intrinsic properties; 'being alone' is itself extrinsic [Lewis, by Sider]
15454 Extrinsic properties come in degrees, with 'brother' less extrinsic than 'sibling' [Lewis]
15742 A disjunctive property can be unnatural, but intrinsic if its disjuncts are intrinsic [Lewis]
15741 All of the natural properties are included among the intrinsic properties [Lewis]
15397 If a global intrinsic never varies between possible duplicates, all necessary properties are intrinsic [Cameron on Lewis]
15398 Global intrinsic may make necessarily coextensive properties both intrinsic or both extrinsic [Cameron on Lewis]
15435 If you think universals are immanent, you must believe them to be sparse, and not every related predicate [Lewis]
14093 An 'intrinsic' property is one that depends on a thing and its parts, and not on its relations [Rosen]
6145 Intrinsic properties are those an object still has even if only that object exists [Merricks]
14088 An 'intrinsic' property is either found in every duplicate, or exists independent of all externals [Linnebo]
15401 Essentialists say intrinsic properties arise from what the thing is, irrespective of surroundings [Cameron]
15393 An object's intrinsic properties are had in virtue of how it is, independently [Cameron]