If the laws of nature are metaphysically necessary, then any property D that is a nomic consequence of the essence of C will also be a necessary property of instances of C.

Some proposed cases of (i) require the laws of nature to be contingent. Although the laws of nature are widely held to be contingent, some philosophers hold that the laws are necessary, on the basis of essentialist arguments that are much of a piece with Kripke’s essentialist arguments, even if strictly independent of them. The anti-descriptivist arguments regard the observable properties of instances of a kind C as nomic consequences of the essence of C. If the laws of nature are metaphysically