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Are properties things?

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Jitro
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18 Jan 2013, 6:15 am

Are properties things?

ruveyn
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18 Jan 2013, 9:29 am

Jitro wrote:

Are properties things?

Properties (i.e. attributes) of things are partly in the mind of the beholder. So you might ask, are thoughts or ideas things.

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naturalplastic
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18 Jan 2013, 11:21 am

How do define "properties"?
(for starters -do mean "characteristics", or do mean "pieces of real estate"?)

How do define 'things'?

Jitro
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18 Jan 2013, 12:18 pm

No I'm not talking about real estate. I'm talking about properties of things. Are they things themselves?

TallyMan
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18 Jan 2013, 12:51 pm

Jitro wrote:

No I'm not talking about real estate. I'm talking about properties of things. Are they things themselves?

That depends on the nature of the property. Colour, size and mass are all properties of an object and they are measurable. You could argue mass is a 'thing' in the concrete sense but colour is an abstract albeit measurable 'thing'. Humans can also conceive of abstract 'things' such as Communism, Love, Hunger and so on, but they do not have any physical aspect that could be considered to be a 'thing'.

From a grammatical point of view, things i.e. nouns can be concrete or abstract. You can stub your toe on concrete nouns but not on abstract ones.

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MCalavera
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18 Jan 2013, 12:58 pm

Jitro wrote:

No I'm not talking about real estate. I'm talking about properties of things. Are they things themselves?

Up to you.

It isn't a simple yes or no answer.

naturalplastic
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18 Jan 2013, 1:06 pm

The word "thing" is about the vaguest word in the entire English language.

And the concept of "traits", "characteristics","attributes", and/or "properties" is also rather subjective and usually also rather relative ( 'bigness' is a property of a thing- but it only exists relative to smaller 'things").

So my conclusion is: that its a dumb question!

visagrunt
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18 Jan 2013, 1:37 pm

Since you have defined neither, "properties," nor, "things," the question is meaningless.

If you tell us what sense of those words you want us to use in answering your question, that would help.

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Jitro
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18 Jan 2013, 2:27 pm

A basketball is a thing. Orangeness is a property of a basketball. Is the orangeness property a thing itself?

Threore
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18 Jan 2013, 3:27 pm

I'm not a native speaker, but the sentence below seems correct to me.

Quote:

"The thing I like about basketballs is their colour."

So properties are things, at least in certain uses of things. The whole question rests on what you use as a definition of "thing".

visagrunt
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18 Jan 2013, 4:25 pm

Jitro wrote:

A basketball is a thing. Orangeness is a property of a basketball. Is the orangeness property a thing itself?

Saying a basketball is a thing doesn't define the class. Are you restricting "thing" to tangible objects, for example?

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18 Jan 2013, 4:28 pm

Jitro wrote:

Are properties things?

Please comprehensively define both terms?
Thank you

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