The Determinable‐Determinate Relation

Abstract

The properties colored and red stand in a special relation. Namely, red is a determinate of colored, and colored is determinable relative to red. Many other properties are similarly related. The determination relation is an interesting topic of logical investigation in its own right, and the prominent philosophical inquiries into this relation have, accordingly, operated at a high level of abstraction. 1 It is time to return to these investigations, not just as a logical amusement, but for the payoffs such investigation can yield in solving some basic metaphysical problems. The goal in what follows is twofold. First, I argue for a novel understanding of the determination relation. Second, this understanding is applied to yield insights into property instance (e.g., trope) individuation, how different property types can share an instance, the relation between property types and property instances, as well as applications to causation (mental causation, in particular). Criteria for a Successful AnalysisThe determination relation holds between property types. A successful analysis of this relation should accord with the following truisms about determinables and their determinates:1. The following canonical pairs must turn out to be related as determinable to determinate: colored/red, red/scarlet, and shaped/circular. The first two examples show that properties are determinables or determinates only relative to other properties. Red is determinable relative to scarlet, but determinate relative to colored. 2. For an object to have a determinate property is for that object to have the determinable properties the determinate falls under in a specific way.

Designing Visual Languages for Description Logics

“…He contrasts this with Aristotle's construction of taxonomies where the superordinate concept is termed the genus and contrast set members are disjoint because they have mutually exclusive properties termed the differentiae. Color is the stereotypical example of a determinate with determinables, for example, the colors of the rainbow, each of which may itself be a determinate of more specific colors in a contrast set below it (Funkhouser, 2006).…”

“…One important aspect of determinates under a determinable is that they are not only disjoint but also that "determinates under the same determinable admit of comparison in a way unavailable to pairs of properties with no determinable in common" (Funkhouser, 2006). For example in Figures 1 and 2 gray may be seen as more similar to black and white than they are to one another.…”

Causation and Determinable Properties: On the Efficacy of Colour, Shape, and Size*

“…Also important are Sanford 2006, Yablo 1992and Armstrong 1997. An excellent recent discussion is Funkhouser 2006. determinates' (Funkhouser 2006 relations, like entailment, supervenience, or the genus-species relation. Take genusspecies for example.…”

What is empathy for?

“…7.2)). From the snail's eye view, affective character will be a highly nuanced super-determinate (Funkhouser 2006). Now, it is decidedly unlikely that, through emotional contagion, perspective-taking, etc.…”