How to reconcile essence with contingent existence

McLeod, Stephen K ORCID: 0000-0003-1457-2942 (2008) How to reconcile essence with contingent existence. RATIO, 21 (3). pp. 314-328.

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Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>To reconcile true claims of <jats:italic>de re</jats:italic> necessity with the supposedly contingent existence of the concrete objects those claims are typically about, Kripkean essentialists invoke weak necessity. The claim that <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> is necessarily <jats:italic>F</jats:italic> is held to be equivalent to the claim that necessarily, if <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> exists then <jats:italic>a</jats:italic> is <jats:italic>F</jats:italic>. This strategy faces a barrage of serious objections a proper subset of which shows that the strategy fails to achieve its intended purpose. Relief can be provided via recourse to a markedly non‐Kripkean version of essentialism.<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="#fn1"><jats:sup>1</jats:sup></jats:ext-link></jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	## TULIP Type: Articles/Papers (Journal) ##
Uncontrolled Keywords:	essence, existence, contingency, necessity, modality, essentialism
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2016 13:44
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2023 00:24
DOI:	10.1111/j.1467-9329.2008.00404.x
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3003820