Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Letters to De Vries' and 'De Essentia'

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2 ideas

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 5. Individuation / d. Individuation by haecceity

13132	A snowball's haecceity is the property of being identical with itself [Plantinga, by Westerhoff]
	Full Idea: Plantinga assumes that being identical with that snowball names a property which is that snowball's haecceity.
	From: report of Alvin Plantinga (De Essentia [1979]) by Jan Westerhoff - Ontological Categories §52
	A reaction: Only a philosopher would suggest such a bizarre way of establishing the unique individuality of a given snowball. You could hardly keep track of the snowball with just that criterion. How do you decide whether something has Plantinga's property?

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 14. Knowledge of Essences

4869	Experience does not teach us any essences of things [Spinoza]
	Full Idea: Experience does not teach us any essences of things.
	From: Baruch de Spinoza (Letters to De Vries [1664], 1664?)
	A reaction: This, along with Leibniz's claim that experience cannot reveal necessities, may constitute a striking criticism of empiricism, but it invites the obvious reply 'so much the worse for essences'. An essence seems to be a theoretical concept, not a priori.