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Single Idea 15975

[from 'Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles' by Peter Alexander, in 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / k. Explanations by essence ]

Full Idea

Is there any way of separating the qualities that bodies appear to have into two groups, one as small as possible and the other as large as possible, such that the smaller group can plausibly be used to explain the larger?

Gist of Idea

Can the qualities of a body be split into two groups, where the smaller explains the larger?

Source

Peter Alexander (Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles [1985], 5.02)

Book Reference

Alexander,Peter: 'Ideas, Qualities and Corpuscles' [CUP 1985], p.123


A Reaction

Alexander implies that this is a question Locke asked himself. This is pretty close to what I take to be the main question for essentialism, though I am cautious about couching it in terms of groups of qualities. I think this was Aristotle's question.