more on this theme     |     more from this thinker

Single Idea 8513

[filed under theme 8. Modes of Existence / B. Properties / 13. Tropes / a. Nature of tropes ]

Full Idea

If we have two cloths of the very same shade of redness, we can show there are two cloths by burning one and leaving the other unaffected; we show there are two cases of redness in the same way: dye one blue, leaving the other unaffected.

Gist of Idea

Two red cloths are separate instances of redness, because you can dye one of them blue

Source

Keith Campbell (The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars [1981], §1)

Book Ref

'Properties', ed/tr. Mellor,D.H. /Oliver,A [OUP 1997], p.126

A Reaction

This has to be one of the basic facts of the problem accepted by everyone. If you dye half of one of the pieces, was the original red therefore one instance or two? Has it become two? How many red tropes are there in a red cloth?

The 14 ideas from 'The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars'

8513 Two red cloths are separate instances of redness, because you can dye one of them blue [Campbell,K]
8514 Red could only recur in a variety of objects if it was many, which makes them particulars [Campbell,K]
8512 Abstractions come before the mind by concentrating on a part of what is presented [Campbell,K]
8515 Tropes are basic particulars, so concrete particulars are collections of co-located tropes [Campbell,K]
8518 Events are trope-sequences, in which tropes replace one another [Campbell,K]
8517 Causal conditions are particular abstract instances of properties, which makes them tropes [Campbell,K]
8516 Davidson can't explain causation entirely by events, because conditions are also involved [Campbell,K]
8519 Bundles must be unique, so the Identity of Indiscernibles is a necessity - which it isn't! [Campbell,K]
4033 Two pure spheres in non-absolute space are identical but indiscernible [Campbell,K]
8522 Tropes solve the Companionship Difficulty, since the resemblance is only between abstract particulars [Campbell,K]
8523 Tropes solve the Imperfect Community problem, as they can only resemble in one respect [Campbell,K]
8521 Nominalism has the problem that without humans nothing would resemble anything else [Campbell,K]
8524 Trope theory makes space central to reality, as tropes must have a shape and size [Campbell,K]
8525 Relations need terms, so they must be second-order entities based on first-order tropes [Campbell,K]