Entity Property
(Redirected from Property (philosophy))
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An Entity Property is an abstract entity of another entity (in a property-of relation) that describes some innate aspect of the entity.
- AKA: Characteristic, Attribute.
- Context:
- It can range from being a Physical Entity Property to being a Mental Concept Property.
- It can be referenced by a Data Item Attribute.
- …
- Example(s):
- a Physical Entity Property, such as: redness.
- a Concept Property.
- an Data Record Property, such as a data record attribute.
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Entity Evolution, Entity Classification, Class (Set Theory), Extensionality, Problem Of Universals, Nominalism, Similarity Relationship.
References
2014
- (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/property_(philosophy) Retrieved:2014-1-11.
- In modern philosophy, mathematics, and logic, a property is an attribute of an object; a red object is said to have the property of redness. The property may be considered a form of object in its own right, able to possess other properties. A property however differs from individual objects in that it may be instantiated, and often in more than one thing. It differs from the logical/mathematical concept of class by not having any concept of extensionality, and from the philosophical concept of class in that a property is considered to be distinct from the objects which possess it. Understanding how different individual entities (or particulars) can in some sense have some of the same properties is the basis of the problem of universals. The terms attribute and quality have similar meanings.
- (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_of_being#Properties Retrieved:2014-1-11.
- The redness of a red apple, or more to the point, the redness all red things share, is a property. One could also call it an attribute of the apple. Very roughly put, a property is just a quality that describes an object. This will not do as a definition of the word 'property' because, like 'attribute', 'quality' is a near-synonym of 'property'. But these synonyms can at least help us to get a fix on the concept we are talking about. Whenever one talks about the size, color, weight, composition, and so forth, of an object, one is talking about the properties of that object. Some — though this is a point of severe contention in the problem of universals – believe that properties are beings; the redness of all apples is something that is. To deny that universals exist is the scholastic variant of nominalism.
Note that the color red is an objective property of an object. The intrinsic property is that it reflects radiation (including light) in a certain way. A human perceives that as the color red in his or her brain. An object thus has two types of properties, intrinsic (physical) and objective (observer specific).
- The redness of a red apple, or more to the point, the redness all red things share, is a property. One could also call it an attribute of the apple. Very roughly put, a property is just a quality that describes an object. This will not do as a definition of the word 'property' because, like 'attribute', 'quality' is a near-synonym of 'property'. But these synonyms can at least help us to get a fix on the concept we are talking about. Whenever one talks about the size, color, weight, composition, and so forth, of an object, one is talking about the properties of that object. Some — though this is a point of severe contention in the problem of universals – believe that properties are beings; the redness of all apples is something that is. To deny that universals exist is the scholastic variant of nominalism.