Dec 16, 2023 09:28 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 16, 2023 09:57 PM by Magical Realist.)
"A ‘haecceity’ (from the Latin, haecceitas, which translates literally as ‘thisness’) is a certain kind of property. In broad outline, a thisness is a primitive, particular, nonqualitative property of an individual, i.e. the property of being a specific individual (or, perhaps, the property of being identical with a specific individual). For example, Ruth Barcan Marcus’s thisness is the property being (identical with) Ruth Barcan Marcus, and so on for all individuals. To clarify: although it is typical to see a thisness described as the property of being identical with an individual, it is not merely the property of being self-identical, which all individuals exemplify trivially; it is a special kind of property that is uniquely exemplified by its bearer. And so, for any individual x, since the property being (identical with) x is both uniquely exemplified by x and essential to x, so x’s thisness is a nonqualitative individual essence of x.
The terminology of ‘haecceity’ and ‘thisness’ derives from the work of John Duns Scotus (c.1266–1308) and some of Scotus’s insights and application of thisnesses are still relevant to debates about identity and individuation. This terminology has its roots in the scholastic philosophy of the High Middle Ages and it was revived in contemporary metaphysics by the work of Robert Merrihew Adams in the second half of the 20th century. In addition to the question of what is the metaphysical nature of a thisness, a considerable amount of the debate concerns what thisnesses can do to ‘earn their keep’ in a systematic metaphysics. Some say that accepting an ontology of thisness permits the individuation of qualitatively indiscernible objects or events – with appropriate footnotes to Scotus. Others say that accepting a specific ontology of thisness allows one to defend certain positions in the philosophy of time, i.e. the growing block theory of time, or presentism."----
https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/t...isness/v-1
"Quiddity describes properties that a particular substance (e.g. a person) shares with others of its kind. The question "what (quid) is it?" asks for a general description by way of commonality. This is quiddity or "whatness" (i.e., its "what it is"). Quiddity was often contrasted by the scholastic philosophers with the haecceity or "thisness" of an item, which was supposed to be a positive characteristic of an individual that caused it to be this individual, and no other. It is used in this sense in British poet George Herbert's poem, "Quiddity". Example: What is a "tree"? We can only see specific trees in the world around us - the category "tree" which includes all trees is a classification in our minds, not empirical, and not observable. The quiddity of a tree is the collection of characteristics which make it a tree. This is sometimes referred to as "treeness". This idea fell into disuse with the rise of empiricism, precisely because the essence of things, that which makes them what they are, does not correspond to any observables in the world around us. Nor can it be logically arrived at."----
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiddity
"Haecceity may be defined in some dictionaries as simply the "essence" of a thing, or as a simple synonym for quiddity or hypokeimenon. However, in proper philosophical usage these terms have not only distinct but opposite meanings. Whereas haecceity refers to aspects of a thing that make it a particular thing, quiddity refers to the universal qualities of a thing, its "whatness", or the aspects of a thing it may share with other things and by which it may form part of a genus of things."--- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haecceity
The terminology of ‘haecceity’ and ‘thisness’ derives from the work of John Duns Scotus (c.1266–1308) and some of Scotus’s insights and application of thisnesses are still relevant to debates about identity and individuation. This terminology has its roots in the scholastic philosophy of the High Middle Ages and it was revived in contemporary metaphysics by the work of Robert Merrihew Adams in the second half of the 20th century. In addition to the question of what is the metaphysical nature of a thisness, a considerable amount of the debate concerns what thisnesses can do to ‘earn their keep’ in a systematic metaphysics. Some say that accepting an ontology of thisness permits the individuation of qualitatively indiscernible objects or events – with appropriate footnotes to Scotus. Others say that accepting a specific ontology of thisness allows one to defend certain positions in the philosophy of time, i.e. the growing block theory of time, or presentism."----
https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/t...isness/v-1
"Quiddity describes properties that a particular substance (e.g. a person) shares with others of its kind. The question "what (quid) is it?" asks for a general description by way of commonality. This is quiddity or "whatness" (i.e., its "what it is"). Quiddity was often contrasted by the scholastic philosophers with the haecceity or "thisness" of an item, which was supposed to be a positive characteristic of an individual that caused it to be this individual, and no other. It is used in this sense in British poet George Herbert's poem, "Quiddity". Example: What is a "tree"? We can only see specific trees in the world around us - the category "tree" which includes all trees is a classification in our minds, not empirical, and not observable. The quiddity of a tree is the collection of characteristics which make it a tree. This is sometimes referred to as "treeness". This idea fell into disuse with the rise of empiricism, precisely because the essence of things, that which makes them what they are, does not correspond to any observables in the world around us. Nor can it be logically arrived at."----
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiddity
"Haecceity may be defined in some dictionaries as simply the "essence" of a thing, or as a simple synonym for quiddity or hypokeimenon. However, in proper philosophical usage these terms have not only distinct but opposite meanings. Whereas haecceity refers to aspects of a thing that make it a particular thing, quiddity refers to the universal qualities of a thing, its "whatness", or the aspects of a thing it may share with other things and by which it may form part of a genus of things."--- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haecceity