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Single Idea 3350
[filed under theme 9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 6. Essence as Unifier
]
Full Idea
Is being a horse an essential property of a horse? Can we so much as conceive the abstract possibility of a horse's ceasing to be a horse even while continuing to exist?
Gist of Idea
Could a horse lose the essential property of being a horse, and yet continue to exist?
Source
José A. Benardete (Metaphysics: the logical approach [1989], Ch.20)
Book Ref
Benardete,José A.: 'Metaphysics: The Logical Approach' [OUP 1989], p.146
The
26 ideas
from José A. Benardete
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3358
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Metaphysics focuses on Platonism, essentialism, materialism and anti-realism
[Benardete,JA]
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3304
|
Why should packed-together particles be a thing (Mt Everest), but not scattered ones?
[Benardete,JA]
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3306
|
The clearest a priori knowledge is proving non-existence through contradiction
[Benardete,JA]
|
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3308
|
In the ontological argument a full understanding of the concept of God implies a contradiction in 'There is no God'
[Benardete,JA]
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3310
|
If slowness is a property of walking rather than the walker, we must allow that events exist
[Benardete,JA]
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12793
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Early pre-Socratics had a mass-noun ontology, which was replaced by count-nouns
[Benardete,JA]
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3309
|
If a soldier continues to exist after serving as a soldier, does the wind cease to exist after it ceases to blow?
[Benardete,JA]
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3312
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There are the 'is' of predication (a function), the 'is' of identity (equals), and the 'is' of existence (quantifier)
[Benardete,JA]
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3314
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Absolutists might accept that to exist is relative, but relative to what? How about relative to itself?
[Benardete,JA]
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3323
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Maybe self-identity isn't existence, if Pegasus can be self-identical but non-existent
[Benardete,JA]
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3329
|
Presumably the statements of science are true, but should they be taken literally or not?
[Benardete,JA]
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3326
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Set theory attempts to reduce the 'is' of predication to mathematics
[Benardete,JA]
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3327
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The set of Greeks is included in the set of men, but isn't a member of it
[Benardete,JA]
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3330
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Negatives, rationals, irrationals and imaginaries are all postulated to solve baffling equations
[Benardete,JA]
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3332
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Greeks saw the science of proportion as the link between geometry and arithmetic
[Benardete,JA]
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3334
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Rationalists see points as fundamental, but empiricists prefer regions
[Benardete,JA]
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3337
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Natural numbers are seen in terms of either their ordinality (Peano), or cardinality (set theory)
[Benardete,JA]
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3335
|
The standard Z-F Intuition version of set theory has about ten agreed axioms
[Benardete,JA, by PG]
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3349
|
If we know truths about prime numbers, we seem to have synthetic a priori knowledge of Platonic objects
[Benardete,JA]
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3345
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Appeals to intuition seem to imply synthetic a priori knowledge
[Benardete,JA]
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3341
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Logical positivism amounts to no more than 'there is no synthetic a priori'
[Benardete,JA]
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3344
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Assertions about existence beyond experience can only be a priori synthetic
[Benardete,JA]
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3350
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Could a horse lose the essential property of being a horse, and yet continue to exist?
[Benardete,JA]
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3351
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One can step into the same river twice, but not into the same water
[Benardete,JA]
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3353
|
If there is no causal interaction with transcendent Platonic objects, how can you learn about them?
[Benardete,JA]
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3352
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Analytical philosophy analyses separate concepts successfully, but lacks a synoptic vision of the results
[Benardete,JA]
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