Property (philosophy)
In logic, mathematics and modern philosophy a property is an attribute of an object; a red object is said to have the property of redness. The property may be considered a form of object in its own right, able to possess other properties. A property however differs from individual objects in that it may be instantiated, and often in more than one thing. It differs from the logical/mathematical concept of class by not having any concept of extensionality, and from the philosophical concept of class in that a property is considered to be distinct from the objects which possess it. Understanding how different individual entities (or particulars) can in some sense have some of the same properties is the basis of the problem of universals. The terms attribute and quality have similar meanings.
Read more about Property (philosophy): Essential and Accidental Properties, Determinate and Determinable Properties, Lovely and Suspect Qualities, Property Dualism, Properties in Mathematics, Properties and Predicates, Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties, Relations
Famous quotes containing the word property:
“I must feel pride in my friend’s accomplishments as if they were mine,—and a property in his virtues. I feel as warmly when he is praised, as the lover when he hears applause of his engaged maiden.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)