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Single Idea 19294

[from 'Necessary Beings' by Bob Hale, in 10. Modality / C. Sources of Modality / 6. Necessity from Essence ]

Full Idea

If the essentialist theory of necessity is to be adequate, it must be able to explain how the existence of certain objects - such as the natural numbers - can itself be absolutely necessary.

Gist of Idea

If necessity derives from essences, how do we explain the necessary existence of essences?

Source

Bob Hale (Necessary Beings [2013], 07.1)

Book Reference

Hale,Bob: 'Necessary Beings' [OUP 2013], p.165


A Reaction

Hale and his neo-logicist pals think that numbers are 'objects', and they necessarily exist, so he obviously has a problem. I don't see any alternative for essentialists to treating the existing (and possible) natures as brute facts.