The interpretation of Lewis©s doctrine of natural properties is difficult and controversial, especially when it comes to the bearers of natural properties. According to the prevailing reading ¤ the minimalist view ¤ perfectly natural properties pertain to the microOphysical realm and are instantiated by entities without proper parts or pointOlike. This paper argues that there are reasons internal to a broadly Lewisian kind of metaphysics to think that the minimalist view is fundamentally flawed and that a liberal view, according to which natural properties are instantiated at several or even at all levels of reality, should be preferred. 2XU DUJXPHQWSURFHHGVE UHYLHZLQJWKRVH FRUHSULQFLSOHVRI /HZLV©V metaphysics that are most likely to constrain the size of the bearers of natural properties: the principle of Humean supervenience, the principle of recombination in modal realism, the hypothesis of gunk, and the thesis of composition as identity.
Natural Properties, Supervenience, and Mereology / A. Borghini, G. Lando. - In: HUMANA.MENTE. - ISSN 1972-1293. - 19:(2011), pp. 79-104.
Natural Properties, Supervenience, and Mereology
A. Borghini
Co-primo
;
2011
Abstract
The interpretation of Lewis©s doctrine of natural properties is difficult and controversial, especially when it comes to the bearers of natural properties. According to the prevailing reading ¤ the minimalist view ¤ perfectly natural properties pertain to the microOphysical realm and are instantiated by entities without proper parts or pointOlike. This paper argues that there are reasons internal to a broadly Lewisian kind of metaphysics to think that the minimalist view is fundamentally flawed and that a liberal view, according to which natural properties are instantiated at several or even at all levels of reality, should be preferred. 2XU DUJXPHQWSURFHHGVE UHYLHZLQJWKRVH FRUHSULQFLSOHVRI /HZLV©V metaphysics that are most likely to constrain the size of the bearers of natural properties: the principle of Humean supervenience, the principle of recombination in modal realism, the hypothesis of gunk, and the thesis of composition as identity.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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