Single Idea 16044

[catalogued under 7. Existence / C. Structure of Existence / 5. Supervenience / c. Significance of supervenience]

Full Idea

Some entailments do not suffice for supervenience. Being a brother entails being a sibling, but being a sibling does not supervene on being a brother. Sarah has a sister and Jack in an only child. Sarah, unlike Jack, is a sibling; neither is a brother.

Gist of Idea

Some entailments do not involve supervenience, as when brotherhood entails siblinghood

Source

Karen Bennett (Supervenience [2011], §3.2)

Book Reference

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.7


A Reaction

The whole point of supervenience, I take it, is to label a relation of tracking, while offering no explanation of the tracking. Entailment would be a rather powerful explanation, as would a dog's being tied to a cart.

Related Idea

Idea 16045 General facts supervene on particular facts, but cannot be inferred from them [Russell, by Bennett,K]