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Full Idea
I am sympathetic to the idea that the real properties are 'sparse'; ...but if, in counting kinds of property, we include complex properties as well as simple properties, the image of sparseness evaporates.
Gist of Idea
The real natural properties are sparse, but there are many complex properties
Source
John Heil (From an Ontological Point of View [2003], 13.4)
Book Ref
Heil,John: 'From an Ontological Point of View' [OUP 2005], p.142
A Reaction
This seems right to me, and invites the obvious question of which are the sparse real properties. Presumably we let the physicists tell us that, though Heil wants to include qualities like phenomenal colour, which physicists ignore.
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| 17559 | Is one atom a piece of gold, or is a sizable group of atoms required? [Inwagen] |
| 7036 | The real natural properties are sparse, but there are many complex properties [Heil] |
| 17476 | Elements survive chemical change, and are tracked to explain direction and properties [Hendry] |
| 17477 | Defining elements by atomic number allowed atoms of an element to have different masses [Hendry] |
| 17398 | 19th C views said elements survived abstractly in compounds, but also as 'material ingredients' [Scerri] |
| 17418 | It is now thought that all the elements have literally evolved from hydrogen [Scerri] |
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