more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The relation of being taller than is an external relation, since it relates two independent material substances, but the relation of instantiation or exemplification is internal, in that it relates a substance with a property.
Gist of Idea
Being taller is an external relation, but properties and substances have internal relations
Source
Cynthia Macdonald (Varieties of Things [2005], Ch.6)
Book Ref
Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.249
A Reaction
An interesting revival of internal relations. To be plausible it would need clear notions of 'property' and 'substance'. We are getting a long way from physics, and I sense Ockham stropping his Razor. How do you individuate a 'relation'?
| 14430 | If a relation is symmetrical and transitive, it has to be reflexive [Russell] |
| 14432 | 'Asymmetry' is incompatible with its converse; a is husband of b, so b can't be husband of a [Russell] |
| 10586 | 'Reflexiveness' holds between a term and itself, and cannot be inferred from symmetry and transitiveness [Russell] |
| 17691 | Nothing is genuinely related to itself [Armstrong] |
| 14974 | A relation is 'Euclidean' if aRb and aRc imply bRc [Cresswell] |
| 13543 | A relation is not reflexive, just because it is transitive and symmetrical [Bostock] |
| 13802 | Relations can be one-many (at most one on the left) or many-one (at most one on the right) [Bostock] |
| 11927 | Reflexive relations are syntactically polyadic but ontologically monadic [Molnar] |
| 18361 | A reflexive relation entails that the relation can't be asymmetric [David] |
| 21352 | 'Multigrade' relations are those lacking a fixed number of relata [MacBride] |
| 13043 | A relation is a set consisting entirely of ordered pairs [Potter] |
| 7967 | Being taller is an external relation, but properties and substances have internal relations [Macdonald,C] |