Redefining 'intrinsic'

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 63 (2):381-398 (2001)
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Abstract

Several alleged counterexamples to the definition of ‘intrinsic’ proposed in Rae Langton and David Lewis, ‘Defining “Intrinsic”’, are unconvincing. Yet there are reasons for dissatisfaction, and room for improvement. One desirable change is to raise the standard of non-disjunctiveness, thereby putting less burden on contentious judgements of comparative naturalness. A second is to deal with spurious independence by throwing out just the disjunctive troublemakers, instead of throwing out disjunctive properties wholesale, and afterward reinstating those impeccably intrinsic disjunctive properties that are not troublemakers. A third, suggested by Brian Weatherson, would be to invoke the general principle that the intrinsic and the extrinsic characters of things are independent, rather than relying just on one special case of this principle; but it is none too obvious how to do this

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Author's Profile

David K. Lewis
PhD: Harvard University; Last affiliation: Princeton University

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References found in this work

Maximality and Intrinsic Properties.Theodore Sider - 2001 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 63 (2):357 - 364.
Intrinsic properties and combinatorial principles.Brian Weatherson - 2001 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 63 (2):365-380.
Recombination unbound.Daniel Nolan - 1996 - Philosophical Studies 84 (2-3):239-262.
Intrinsic properties defined.Peter Vallentyne - 1997 - Philosophical Studies 88 (2): 209-219.

View all 7 references / Add more references