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    Only maximal determinables exist; non-maximal determinabl... — Carmelics
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    Home/Modality & Possibility
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    Only maximal determinables exist; non-maximal determinables do not exist.

    Modality & Possibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.A determinable is posited if and only if there is a comparability gap between its determinates and those of other determinables.
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    • 2.Non-maximal determinables lack such a comparability gap distinguishing them from other same-level determinates.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Non-maximal determinables like 'color' ground genuine resemblance relations among red, blue, and green that no maximal determinable captures.
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    • 2.If resemblance relations require an ontological ground, non-maximal determinables must exist as real universals to explain cross-species color similarity.
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    • 3.Denying the reality of non-maximal determinables leaves color-resemblance between scarlet and crimson explanatorily ungrounded relative to shape-resemblance.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Armstrong's sparse theory of universals permits only those universals that do genuine causal-explanatory work, and non-maximal determinables like 'mass' figure irreducibly in Newton's second law.
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    • 2.If a determinable appears essentially and irreducibly in well-confirmed scientific laws, Quinean ontological commitment obliges us to accept it as real.
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    Related

    A determinable is posited if and only if there is a comparability gap between it...Armstrong's sparse theory of universals permits only those universals that do ge...Denying the reality of non-maximal determinables leaves color-resemblance betwee...If a determinable appears essentially and irreducibly in well-confirmed scientif...
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    If resemblance relations require an ontological ground, non-maximal determinable...Non-maximal determinables lack such a comparability gap distinguishing them from...Non-maximal determinables like 'color' ground genuine resemblance relations amon...

    Similar

    Non-maximal determinables lack such a comparability gap distinguishing...88%There are no irreducible determinable properties; all universals must ...85%Reality itself is maximally determinate.84%Johansson's eliminativism about non-maximal determinables is unmotivat...83%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: determinate-determinables
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    Johansson (2000, 2004) endorses a constitutive account of determinables—more precisely, of ‘maximal’ determinables (such as color, shape, and smell) located at the top of a determination hierarchy—taking Determinate similarity and Determinate gradability as its starting point. It is, he says, characteristic of determinables and determinates that “two different determinates of the same determinable can always be continuously connected” (2000: 108), in a way providing the basis for the gradeable r
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit