Z badań nad problemem inherencji. Na marginesie Edwarda Jonathana Lowe’a ontologii czterokategorialnej

Abstrakt

Notes on the Problem of Inherence. With Edward Jonathan Lowe’s Four-Category Ontology in the Background

In the paper I analyse some problems with the relation of properties to object. Such kind of relation is usually called “inherence,” “possessing” or “characterization.” I start with Lowe’s concept of inherence contained in his four-category ontology because I think it generates some very interested issues. Lowe thinks that inherence holds between modes individual properties and objects as well as between kinds and universal properties. I argue that there cannot be universal properties but only universals which are instantiated by entities which are properties. Thus property-universals cannot inhere in anything. I also stress that we need a concept of explanatory dependence in order to correctly characterize inherence. Finally I draw attention to great importance of the problem of relationships of kinds to property-universals to the doctrine of substantialism.