15 ideas
| 12312 | The real essence of a thing is its powers, or 'dispositional properties' [Copi] |
| 10937 | Essential properties are the 'deepest' ones which explain the others [Copi, by Rami] |
| 12308 | In modern science, nominal essence is intended to be real essence [Copi] |
| 12303 | Within the four types of change, essential attributes are those whose loss means destruction [Copi] |
| 9169 | A statement can be metaphysically necessary and epistemologically contingent [Putnam] |
| 5819 | Conceivability is no proof of possibility [Putnam] |
| 9168 | I can't distinguish elm trees, but I mean by 'elm' the same set of trees as everybody else [Putnam] |
| 5820 | 'Water' has an unnoticed indexical component, referring to stuff around here [Putnam] |
| 9170 | We need to recognise the contribution of society and of the world in determining reference [Putnam] |
| 5817 | Language is more like a cooperative steamship than an individual hammer [Putnam] |
| 13304 | Learned men gain more in one day than others do in a lifetime [Posidonius] |
| 12307 | Modern science seeks essences, and is getting closer to them [Copi] |
| 5818 | If water is H2O in the actual world, there is no possible world where it isn't H2O [Putnam] |
| 12310 | Real essences are scientifically knowable, but so are non-essential properties [Copi] |
| 20820 | Time is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed [Posidonius, by Stobaeus] |