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Full Idea
The loss of any essential property must amount to the end of an existence.
Gist of Idea
The loss of an essential property means the end of an existence
Source
Crawford L. Elder (Real Natures and Familiar Objects [2004], 3)
Book Ref
Elder,Crawford L.: 'Real Natures and Familiar Objects' [MIT 2004], p.43
A Reaction
This is orthodoxy for essentialists, and I presume that Aristotle would agree, but I have a problem with the essence of a great athlete, who then grows old. Must we say that they lose their identity-as-an-athlete?
Related Ideas
Idea 11993 Jones may cease to exist without some simple property, but that doesn't make it essential [Kung]
Idea 13804 A property is essential iff the object would not exist if it lacked that property [Forbes,G]
13794 | Essential properties by nature occur in clusters or packages [Elder] |
13795 | Properties only have identity in the context of their contraries [Elder] |
13796 | Essential properties are bound together, and would be lost together [Elder] |
13797 | The loss of an essential property means the end of an existence [Elder] |
13798 | Maybe we should give up the statue [Elder] |