Questions tagged [properties]
46 questions
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Is the Dao a thing or an action?
Studying the Dao as a Westerner, I am constantly perplexed by the ineffability of the Dao. It always strikes me as though I should be able to attach properties to a noun, even if that property is merely "ineffable."
Looking at the words people use…
Cort Ammon
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Why is the problem of universals a problem?
Philosopher Gonzago Rodriguez-Pereyra defines the very old and well-known "Problem of Universals" thusly:
But what then is the Problem of Universals? As I said, it is usually taken to be the problem of accounting for how different particulars can…
Nicol
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9
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What are the properties of Mathematical Objects?
I have been thinking a lot about how one knows when an observation contains mathematical elements. Many years ago when I was in school, I found that there was often little time taken out to discuss what makes a new concept being taught mathematical.…
Alonzo
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3
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Platonic realism about 'impossible' properties?
Do you know if 'impossible' properties exist when viewing it from a Platonic realism viewpoint? An example of an 'impossible' property might be something like "being faster than the speed of light" which could never be instantiated because it would…
Richard Bamford
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Do states of affairs exemplify the properties that appear in their representation, or do they encode these?
The encoding/exemplifying distinction is in part an attempt to make phrases like "the round square" or "a nonexistent Pegasus" intelligible, without violating consistency or identity parameters in general. The SEP article says:
Earlier we…
Kristian Berry
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3
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What are examples of irreducible dispositions of objects?
Typically, macroscopic dispositions like fragility are in principle reducible to the molecular structure of the glass. Analogously for flammability, or even for mental dispositions like irritability, etc. What are examples of irreducible…
Arman Armenpress
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3
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What is Plantinga's "trivial property"?
I have seen the term "trivial property" used several times, and some authors seem to be attributing it to Plantinga, but I cannot find his definition. I have seen others define it as a property necessary to x, regardless of what you take x to be.
Kiniata
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3
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What are some current debates in metaphysics today?
What are some current debates in metaphysics today? I would be very interested to hear what the very most recent debates in this field focus on, what's hot, or whether some new views have emerged or a paper which stirred some things up?
George Welder
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2
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How can there be general properties shared by many objects when the objects are all different?
For e.g. suffering is a property that many people share but each person's suffering is somewhat different to each other. I can extend the argument to say that every property had by objects is a tiny bit different to each other, therefore there are…
Richard Bamford
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Help understanding this bit of philosophy in this paper
I was reading about data structuring in computer science in this paper "Record Handling C.A.R. Hoare" when he outlined some philosophy about the properties of objects that I'm struggling to understand, please help.
In section 1.2. he writes the…
Richard Bamford
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What is an object's properties?
What can we consider an object's properties, for example, when can we consider an object's properties as 'changing'? For example, if I move an object from my desk to my table, has it changed? If I take a number and write it's numeral on my board, or…
Confused
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Are Concepts Colorless?
Consider the concept of green and the color green. Is it right to say that the concept of green is also green? I would think not, since the concept merely reports what the color green is like. It itself is not green. Concepts seem to be analogous…
Quirky Trombone
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Would a divine being having properties of multiple orders undermine the point of attributing divine simplicity to this being?
It seems as if debates about divine natures, among the "laity," are usually preoccupied with what have been called first-order properties of those natures. So we see the perennial quibbling over naive definitions of "omniscience" or "omnipotence."…
Kristian Berry
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Is instantiation of properties causal?
Strange question here but can an object instantiating a property be a cause of it instantiating another different property? For example; I instantiate the property of being hairy and warm blooded which causes me to instantiate the property of being…
Richard Bamford
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"Too simple to be simple" (a phrase in category theory) and the concept of absurdity
In category theory as practiced, there is this phrase "generalized abstract nonsense" (GAN), which is often used to cover sections of a derivation/judgment(?) that the audience is meant to either understand or accept on the "authority" (not quite)…
Kristian Berry
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