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§6.1
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p.14
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13166
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Essences are no use in mathematics, if all mathematical truths are necessary
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Full Idea:
Essences and essential properties do not seem to be useful in mathematical contexts, since all mathematical truths are regarded as necessary (though Kit Fine distinguishes between essential and necessary properties).
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From:
Paolo Mancosu (Explanation in Mathematics [2008], §6.1)
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A reaction:
I take the proviso in brackets to be crucial. This represents a distortion of notion of an essence. There is a world of difference between the central facts about the nature of a square and the peripheral inferences derivable from it.
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