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Full Idea
A simple way to think about internal relations is: if R internally relates a and b, then, if you have a and b, you thereby have R. If you have six and you have five, you thereby have six's being greater than five.
Gist of Idea
If R internally relates a and b, and you have a and b, you thereby have R
Source
John Heil (Relations [2009], 'External')
Book Ref
'Routledge Companion to Metaphysics', ed/tr. Le Poidevin/Simons etc [Routledge 2012], p.314
A Reaction
This seems to work a lot better for abstracta than for physical objects, where I am struggling to think of a parallel example. Parenthood? Temporal relations between things? Acorn and oak?
Related Idea
Idea 21351 Truthmaking is a clear example of an internal relation [Heil]
| 21347 | If Simmias is taller than Socrates, that isn't a feature that is just in Simmias [Plato] |
| 22080 | The nature of each category relates itself to another [Hegel] |
| 6422 | Internal relations are said to be intrinsic properties of two terms, and of the whole they compose [Bradley, by Russell] |
| 7966 | Relations must be linked to their qualities, but that implies an infinite regress of relations [Bradley] |
| 21342 | A relation is internal if two things possessing the relation could not fail to be related [Moore,GE, by Heil] |
| 7968 | A relation is internal if it is unthinkable that its object should not possess it [Wittgenstein] |
| 7969 | The order of numbers is an internal relation, not an external one [Wittgenstein] |
| 21351 | Truthmaking is a clear example of an internal relation [Heil] |
| 21344 | If R internally relates a and b, and you have a and b, you thereby have R [Heil] |
| 21348 | In the case of 5 and 6, their relational truthmaker is just the numbers [Heil] |
| 18532 | If causal relations are power manifestations, that makes them internal relations [Heil] |
| 21353 | Internal relations are fixed by existences, or characters, or supervenience on characters [MacBride] |
| 7938 | Relational properties are clearly not essential to substances [Macdonald,C] |
| 14925 | The normal assumption is that relations depend on properties of the relata [Ladyman/Ross] |
| 18336 | Internal relations depend either on the existence of the relata, or on their properties [Rami] |