On existentialism
On existentialism
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论存在主义
DOI：
10.1007/bf00353411
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发表时间：
1983
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Alvin Plantinga
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Alvin Plantinga
假设我们开始赞同或无论如何不否认物体有个别的本质。对象x的个体本质E是满足两个条件的性质：（1）E对x是本质的，所以x不可能存在但缺少E;（2）E对x是本质唯一的，所以不可能存在一个与x不同的对象，它具有E。我相信很明显，有个别的本质。例如，考虑一下威廉·F.巴克利或与威廉·F·巴克利相同。巴克利。当然，这种财产对巴克利来说是必不可少的;他不可能存在，但缺乏它。(Of当然，他可能没有“威廉·F.毫无疑问，他的父母可以给他起名为“皮科德拉·米兰多拉”，如果他们愿意的话。）但是，所讨论的属性在本质上也是他所独有的;与巴克利不同的人不可能具有与威廉·F·巴克利相同的属性。巴克利因此，一种本质是与某个对象相同的性质，即对于某个对象x，与x相同的性质。按照罗伯特·亚当斯和邓斯·司各脱的说法，假设我们把这样一种属性称为“这个性”;一个个体的这个性就是成为那个个体的属性。我们没有必要使用专有名词来指定或指涉此性;当我使用“作为我的属性”或“与我同一的属性”时，它们所指的属性就是一个此性。再想想北达科他州最卑鄙的人：与他同一的属性也是一种此性。
Suppose we begin by endorsing or at any rate not contestin objects have individual essences. An individual essence E of an object x is a property that meets two conditions:(1) E is essential to x, so that it is not possible that x exist but lack E, and (2) E is essentially unique to x, so that it is not possible that there should have been an object distinct from x that had E. I believe it is obvious that there are individual essences. Consider, for example, the property of being William F. Buckley or being identical with William F. Buckley. Surely that property is essential to Buckley; he couldn't have existed but lacked it.(Of course he could have lacked the name'William F. Buckley'; no doubt his parents could have named him'Pico della Mirandola'if they'd wished.) But the property in question is also essentially unique to him; it is not possible that someone distinct from Buckley should have had the property of being identical with William F. Buckley. One kind of essence, then, is the property of being identical with some object-ie the property, for some object x, of being identical with x. Following Robert Adams and Duns Scotus, suppose we call such a property a thisness; the thisness of an individual is the property of being that individual. It is not necessary that we use proper names to specify or refer to thisnesses; when I use the words" the property of being I" or" the property of being identical with me", the property they denote is a thisness. And consider the meanest man in North Dakota: the property of being identical with him is also a thisness.