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Single Idea 7937
[filed under theme 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / e. Substance critique
]
Full Idea
The bundle theory makes all true statements ascribing properties to substances uninformative, by making them logical truths. The property of being a feline animal is literally a constituent of a cat.
Gist of Idea
When we ascribe a property to a substance, the bundle theory will make that a tautology
Source
Cynthia Macdonald (Varieties of Things [2005], Ch.3)
Book Ref
Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.95
A Reaction
The solution would seem to a distinction between accidental and essential properties. Compare 'that plane is red' with 'that plane has wings'. 'Of course it does - it's a plane'. We might still survive without a plane-substance.
The
32 ideas
from Cynthia Macdonald
7923
|
'Did it for the sake of x' doesn't involve a sake, so how can ontological commitments be inferred?
[Macdonald,C]
|
7965
|
Does the knowledge of each property require an infinity of accompanying knowledge?
[Macdonald,C]
|
7926
|
We 'individuate' kinds of object, and 'identify' particular specimens
[Macdonald,C]
|
7927
|
At different times Leibniz articulated three different versions of his so-called Law
[Macdonald,C]
|
7928
|
The Identity of Indiscernibles is false, because it is not necessarily true
[Macdonald,C]
|
7936
|
Unlike bundles of properties, substances have an intrinsic unity
[Macdonald,C]
|
7930
|
The bundle theory of substance implies the identity of indiscernibles
[Macdonald,C]
|
7932
|
A phenomenalist cannot distinguish substance from attribute, so must accept the bundle view
[Macdonald,C]
|
7937
|
When we ascribe a property to a substance, the bundle theory will make that a tautology
[Macdonald,C]
|
7939
|
Substances persist through change, but the bundle theory says they can't
[Macdonald,C]
|
7940
|
A substance might be a sequence of bundles, rather than a single bundle
[Macdonald,C]
|
7929
|
A substance is either a bundle of properties, or a bare substratum, or an essence
[Macdonald,C]
|
7941
|
Each substance contains a non-property, which is its substratum or bare particular
[Macdonald,C]
|
7942
|
The substratum theory explains the unity of substances, and their survival through change
[Macdonald,C]
|
7943
|
A substratum has the quality of being bare, and they are useless because indiscernible
[Macdonald,C]
|
7934
|
Tropes are abstract (two can occupy the same place), but not universals (they have locations)
[Macdonald,C]
|
7938
|
Relational properties are clearly not essential to substances
[Macdonald,C]
|
7944
|
Reduce by bridge laws (plus property identities?), by elimination, or by reducing talk
[Macdonald,C]
|
7947
|
In continuity, what matters is not just the beginning and end states, but the process itself
[Macdonald,C]
|
7948
|
A statue and its matter have different persistence conditions, so they are not identical
[Macdonald,C]
|
7933
|
Don't assume that a thing has all the properties of its parts
[Macdonald,C]
|
7950
|
Philosophy tries to explain how the actual is possible, given that it seems impossible
[Macdonald,C]
|
7958
|
Properties are sets of exactly resembling property-particulars
[Macdonald,C]
|
7967
|
Being taller is an external relation, but properties and substances have internal relations
[Macdonald,C]
|
7955
|
Resemblance Nominalism cannot explain either new resemblances, or absence of resemblances
[Macdonald,C]
|
7961
|
A 'thing' cannot be in two places at once, and two things cannot be in the same place at once
[Macdonald,C]
|
7959
|
How do a group of resembling tropes all resemble one another in the same way?
[Macdonald,C]
|
7960
|
Trope Nominalism is the only nominalism to introduce new entities, inviting Ockham's Razor
[Macdonald,C]
|
7951
|
Numerical sameness is explained by theories of identity, but what explains qualitative identity?
[Macdonald,C]
|
7964
|
How can universals connect instances, if they are nothing like them?
[Macdonald,C]
|
7971
|
Real Nominalism is only committed to concrete particulars, word-tokens, and (possibly) sets
[Macdonald,C]
|
7972
|
Tropes are abstract particulars, not concrete particulars, so the theory is not nominalist
[Macdonald,C]
|