1Z wrote:
> That is, there is no plurality of substances with essential
> characteristics.
> Just one bare subtrate.
Matter is a bare substrate with no properties of its own. The question
may well be asked at this point: what roles does it perform ? Why not
dispense with matter and just have bundles of properties -- what does
matter add to a merely abstract set of properties? The answer is that
not all bundles of posible properties are instantiated. What matter
adds to a bundle of properties is existence. Thus the concept of matter
is very much tied to the idea of contingency or "somethingism" -- the
idea that only certain possible things exist.
The other issue matter is able to explain as a result of having no
properties of its own is the issue of change and time. For change to be
distinguishable from mere succession, it must be change in something.
It could be a contingent natural law that certain properties never
change. However, with a propertiless substrate, it becomes a logical
necessity that the substrate endures through change; since all changes
are changes in properties, a propertiless substrate cannot itself
change and must endure through change.
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Received on Sat Aug 12 2006 - 12:32:36 PDT