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Single Idea 17873

[from 'Nature Without Essence' by Joseph Almog, in 18. Thought / C. Content / 5. Twin Earth ]

Full Idea

It is a blindspot to say that to be a tiger one must come from tigers, but to be water one needn't come from water. ...The error lies in not appreciating that to be water one still must come from somewhere in the cosmos, indeed, from hydrogen and oxygen.

Gist of Idea

Water must be related to water, just as tigers must be related to tigers

Source

Joseph Almog (Nature Without Essence [2010], 09)

Book Reference

-: 'Journal of Philosophy' [-], p.373


A Reaction

A unified picture is indeed desirable, but a better solution is to say that the essence of a tiger is in its structure, not in its origins. There are many ways to produce an artefact. There could be many ways to produce a tiger.

Related Idea

Idea 17870 Alien 'tigers' can't be tigers if they are not related to our tigers [Almog]