A property is a quality, feature, or state that something has. Color, weight, shape, speed, character, and ability can all be understood as properties.
Properties matter because we often know things through their properties. When we say a person is courageous, a chair is strong, or a system is efficient, we are describing properties. Philosophy asks whether properties depend entirely on concrete things, or whether they can exist as universals. Is redness only the color of this flower, or a shared property among many red things? In a data-driven society, people are also turned into bundles of properties: age, preference, credit, risk score. The concept reminds us that describing something is not the same as exhausting what it is, especially when persons are reduced to computable attributes.
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- What Is Substance?
- What Is Concept?
- What Is Ontology?
Roadly Philosophy
Explore philosophy through play with Roadly Philosophy, the iPhone game I created.
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