Tropes and qualitative change

Bibliographic Data

ID21364058
AuthorsPaul Audi (0000-0001-8652-9893, University of Rochester Rochester NY United States, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume58
Issue1
Pages180-201
Publication date2024-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNoûs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0029-4624 • E-ISSN: 1468-0068
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/nous.12447
OpenAlexW4319840200
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited66

This paper presents the view that tropes can change, and so are not individuated by their determinate qualitative characters. On the view I have in mind, a trope is at any given time fully determinate, but can change qualitatively within the bounds set by a determinable essence. A charge trope, for example, must at any time have some exact intensity, but can survive changes in intensity. My argument, roughly, is this: Objects can change, and tropes are the parts of objects that change (in a special sense of ‘part’), so tropes can change too. After some preliminaries, I present the argument carefully and discuss the operant notions. I then discuss each premise in turn. I respond to the charge that the view isn't realist, and to objections based on identity‐conditions for tropes. I describe both substratum‐ and bundle‐theoretic versions of the view, and finally, show what the view buys us

Aesthetics · Argument (complex analysis) · Epistemology · Identity (music) · Linguistics · Premise · Set (abstract data type) · Trope (literature) · Computability, Logic, AI Algorithms · Computer Science · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Philosophy and Theoretical Science

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access