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Single Idea 16633

[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 9. Essence and Properties ]

Full Idea

Each substance has one principal property that constitutes its nature and essence, to which all its other properties are referred. Extension in length, breadth, and depth constitutes the nature of corporeal substance; and thought of thinking substances.

Gist of Idea

A substance has one principal property which is its nature and essence

Source

René Descartes (Principles of Philosophy [1646], I.53), quoted by Robert Pasnau - Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 08.3

Book Ref

Pasnau,Robert: 'Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671' [OUP 2011], p.145

A Reaction

Property is likely to be 'propria', which is a property distinctive of some thing, not just any old modern property. This is quite a strikingly original view of the nature of essence. Descartes despised 'substantial forms'.

The 33 ideas with the same theme [essence consists of a set of properties]:

16143 It is absurd that a this and a substance should be composed of a quality [Aristotle]
14047 Bodies have impermanent properties, and permanent ones which define its conceived nature [Epicurus]
22762 Some properties are inseparable from a thing, such as the length, breadth and depth of a body [Sext.Empiricus]
16633 A substance has one principal property which is its nature and essence [Descartes]
16028 Lockean real essence makes a thing what it is, and produces its observable qualities [Locke, by Jones,J-E]
12305 Locke's essences determine the other properties, so the two will change together [Locke, by Copi]
15985 It is impossible for two things with the same real essence to differ in properties [Locke]
12534 We cannot know what properties are necessary to gold, unless we first know its real essence [Locke]
13191 The properties of a thing flow from its essence [Leibniz]
11878 Leibniz's view (that all properties are essential) is extreme essentialism, not its denial [Leibniz, by Mackie,P]
19263 Imagine an object's properties varying; the ones that won't vary are the essential ones [Husserl, by Vaidya]
22321 To know an object we must know the form and content of its internal properties [Wittgenstein, by Potter]
10923 Aristotelian essentialism says a thing has some necessary and some non-necessary properties [Quine]
5462 Essential properties are usually quantitatively determinate [Ellis]
14646 An object has a property essentially if it couldn't conceivably have lacked it [Plantinga]
17030 Important properties of an object need not be essential to it [Kripke]
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]
14654 Properties are 'trivially essential' if they are instantiated by every object in every possible world [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]
14633 How do we tell a table's being contingently plastic from its being essentially plastic? [Jackson]
14635 An x is essentially F if it is F in every possible world in which it appears [Jackson]
15297 We can infer a new property of a thing from its other properties, via its essential nature [Harré/Madden]
12031 Essences are taken to be qualitative properties [Adams,RM]
11879 Essentialism is best represented as a predicate-modifier: □(a exists → a is F) [Wiggins, by Mackie,P]
14636 Essences are the interesting necessary properties resulting from a thing's own peculiar nature [McMichael]
14640 Maybe essential properties have to be intrinsic, as well as necessary? [McMichael]
13807 A property is 'extraneously essential' if it is had only because of the properties of other objects [Forbes,G]
10936 Essential properties are part of an object's 'definition' [Fine,K, by Rami]
15076 Essential features of an object have no relation to how things actually are [Fine,K]
12258 Properties are not part of an essence, but they flow from it [Oderberg]
13794 Essential properties by nature occur in clusters or packages [Elder]
13796 Essential properties are bound together, and would be lost together [Elder]