Ideas from 'Necessity, Essence and Individuation' by Alan Sidelle [1989], by Theme Structure

[found in 'Necessity, Essence and Individuation' by Sidelle,Alan [Cornell 1989,0-8014-2166-7]].

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1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 6. Metaphysics as Conceptual

15169

Metaphysics is clarifying how we speak and think (and possibly improving it)

2. Reason / E. Argument / 7. Thought Experiments

15164

We seem to base necessities on thought experiments and imagination

8. Modes of Existence / C. Powers and Dispositions / 6. Dispositions / d. Dispositions as occurrent

15180

There doesn't seem to be anything in the actual world that can determine modal facts

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 2. Types of Essence

15184

Causal reference presupposes essentialism if it refers to modally extended entities

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 7. Essence and Necessity / c. Essentials are necessary

15172

Clearly, essential predications express necessary properties

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 8. Essence as Explanatory

15181

Being a deepest explanatory feature is an actual, not a modal property

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism

15173

That the essence of water is its microstructure is a convention, not a discovery

9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 3. Relative Identity

15185

We aren't clear about 'same stuff as this', so a principle of individuation is needed to identify it

10. Modality / A. Necessity / 4. De re / De dicto modality

15175

Evaluation of de dicto modalities does not depend on the identity of its objects

10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 3. Necessity by Convention

15032

Necessary a posteriori is conventional for necessity and nonmodal for a posteriority [Sider]

15179

To know empirical necessities, we need empirical facts, plus conventions about which are necessary

10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 3. A Posteriori Necessary

15171

The necessary a posteriori is statements either of identity or of essence

10. Modality / D. Knowledge of Modality / 4. Conceivable as Possible / a. Conceivable as possible

15167

Empiricism explores necessities and concept-limits by imagining negations of truths

15177

Contradictoriness limits what is possible and what is imaginable

10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 3. Transworld Objects / a. Transworld identity

15176

The individuals and kinds involved in modality are also a matter of convention

10. Modality / E. Possible worlds / 3. Transworld Objects / b. Rigid designation

15174

A thing doesn't need transworld identity prior to rigid reference - that could be a convention of the reference

15183

'Dthat' operates to make a singular term into a rigid term

12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 8. A Priori as Analytic

15165

A priori knowledge is entirely of analytic truths

18. Thought / C. Content / 5. Twin Earth

15168

That water is essentially H2O in some way concerns how we use 'water'

19. Language / B. Reference / 3. Direct Reference / b. Causal reference

15166

Causal reference seems to get directly at the object, thus leaving its nature open

19. Language / B. Reference / 5. Speaker's Reference

15182

Because some entities overlap, reference must have analytic individuation principles

26. Natural Theory / D. Laws of Nature / 8. Scientific Essentialism / e. Anti scientific essentialism

15178

Can anything in science reveal the necessity of what it discovers?