How Things Might Have Been

How Things Might Have Been PDF Author: Penelope Mackie
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199272204
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
How are we to distinguish between the essential and accidental properties of things such as individual people, cats, trees, and tables? Almost everyone agrees that such individuals could have been different, in certain respects, from the way that they actually are. But what are the respects in which they could not have been different: which of their properties are essential to their being the individuals that they are? And why? Following the revival of interest among analytic philosophers in essentialism and de re modality generated by the work of Kripke and others in the 1970s, these questions have been the subject of intense, yet still unresolved, debate. In this book, Penelope Mackie challenges most of the answers that have been given to these questions. Via a critical examination of rival theories, she arrives at what she calls 'minimalist essentialism', an unorthodox theory according to which ordinary individuals have relatively few interesting essential properties, and intuitions that appear to support stronger versions of essentialism are interpreted as consistent with the theory. The topics discussed include the rivalry between the interpretation of de re modality in terms of 'identity across possible worlds' and its interpretation in terms of David Lewis's counterpart theory, some notorious modal puzzles generated by the theory that individuals exist with different properties in different possible worlds, the notion of an individual essence, Kripke's 'necessity of origin' thesis, and the widely held view that there are sortal properties that are essential properties of the things to which they belong. The book also includes a discussion of the relation between essentialism about individuals and essentialism about natural kinds, and a critical examination of the connection between semantics and natural kind essentialism.

How Things Might Have Been

How Things Might Have Been PDF Author: Penelope Mackie
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199272204
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
How are we to distinguish between the essential and accidental properties of things such as individual people, cats, trees, and tables? Almost everyone agrees that such individuals could have been different, in certain respects, from the way that they actually are. But what are the respects in which they could not have been different: which of their properties are essential to their being the individuals that they are? And why? Following the revival of interest among analytic philosophers in essentialism and de re modality generated by the work of Kripke and others in the 1970s, these questions have been the subject of intense, yet still unresolved, debate. In this book, Penelope Mackie challenges most of the answers that have been given to these questions. Via a critical examination of rival theories, she arrives at what she calls 'minimalist essentialism', an unorthodox theory according to which ordinary individuals have relatively few interesting essential properties, and intuitions that appear to support stronger versions of essentialism are interpreted as consistent with the theory. The topics discussed include the rivalry between the interpretation of de re modality in terms of 'identity across possible worlds' and its interpretation in terms of David Lewis's counterpart theory, some notorious modal puzzles generated by the theory that individuals exist with different properties in different possible worlds, the notion of an individual essence, Kripke's 'necessity of origin' thesis, and the widely held view that there are sortal properties that are essential properties of the things to which they belong. The book also includes a discussion of the relation between essentialism about individuals and essentialism about natural kinds, and a critical examination of the connection between semantics and natural kind essentialism.

The Clay-worker

The Clay-worker PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Brick trade
Languages : en
Pages : 1486

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Book Description
"The log of the clay worker": v. 100, p. 188-193.

The Australian Edition of the Selected Works of Marcus Clarke, Together with a Biography and Monograph of the Deceased Author

The Australian Edition of the Selected Works of Marcus Clarke, Together with a Biography and Monograph of the Deceased Author PDF Author: Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Australian literature
Languages : en
Pages : 558

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House documents

House documents PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1308

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Littell's Living Age

Littell's Living Age PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American periodicals
Languages : en
Pages : 842

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The Accountant

The Accountant PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Accounting
Languages : en
Pages : 1062

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My Quarter Century of American Politics

My Quarter Century of American Politics PDF Author: Champ Clark
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1060

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China's Millions

China's Millions PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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1730-1784

1730-1784 PDF Author: Charles Wells Moulton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American literature
Languages : en
Pages : 818

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The Parliamentary Debates (official Report).

The Parliamentary Debates (official Report). PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 1232

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