more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
It is part of the nature of gold as we have it to be an element with atomic number 79.
Gist of Idea
Atomic number 79 is part of the nature of the gold we know
Source
Saul A. Kripke (Naming and Necessity lectures [1970], Lecture 3)
Book Ref
Kripke,Saul: 'Naming and Necessity' [Blackwell 1980], p.125
A Reaction
The word 'nature' directly invokes Aristotle's concept of an essence. Scientific essentialism arises from the idea that by discovering the atomic number, we have somehow 'arrived' at the essence, and enquiry is reaching its terminus.