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    There are no irreducible determinable properties; all uni... — Carmelics
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    There are no irreducible determinable properties; all universals must be maximally determinate.

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

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
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    • 1.Armstrong's truthmaker theory requires that for every true proposition, there exists a specific, fully determinate entity in the world that makes it true.
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    • 2.A universal like 'red' without a maximally determinate shade (scarlet, crimson) cannot serve as a distinct truthmaker, as it would make identical what physics distinguishes.
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    • 3.If determinable universals cannot function as independent truthmakers, they lack the ontological standing required to count as irreducible universals in a sparse theory of properties.
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    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Lewis's Humean supervenience holds that all facts supervene on the distribution of perfectly natural, intrinsic properties across spacetime points.
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    • 2.Perfectly natural properties, as Lewis defines them, are those that 'carve nature at its joints'—a role only maximally determinate quantities like exact charge or mass can fill.
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    • 3.Determinable properties like 'having some mass' are merely abundant, class-defined properties reducible to sets of possibilia sharing determinate values, not irreducible universals.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Reality itself is maximally determinate.
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    • 2.If reality is maximally determinate, then all universals must be determinate rather than irreducibly determinable.
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    Related

    A universal like 'red' without a maximally determinate shade (scarlet, crimson) ...Armstrong's truthmaker theory requires that for every true proposition, there ex...Determinable properties like 'having some mass' are merely abundant, class-defin...If determinable universals cannot function as independent truthmakers, they lack...
    +4 moreShow less
    If reality is maximally determinate, then all universals must be determinate rat...Lewis's Humean supervenience holds that all facts supervene on the distribution ...Perfectly natural properties, as Lewis defines them, are those that 'carve natur...Reality itself is maximally determinate.

    Similar

    If reality is maximally determinate, then all universals must be deter...91%Only maximal determinables exist; non-maximal determinables do not exi...85%Reality itself is maximally determinate.83%Non-maximal determinables lack such a comparability gap distinguishing...81%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: determinate-determinables
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    Reality as maximally determinate. One objection to irreducible determinables appeals to the supposition that reality itself is maximally determinate, such that there are no irreducible determinable properties; as Armstrong maintains, “[a]ll universals must be determinate” (1978b: 117). Relatedly, many suppose that there is no “vagueness” in the world; as Lewis maintains, “[t]he only intelligible account of vagueness locates it in our thought and language” (1986: 212).[16]
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    Details

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