Property

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A property is what belongs to a thing. In thing-thinking: the thing has properties (substrate + accidents). Hegel's dissolution: the thing is nothing other than the totality of its properties. There is no substrate behind the properties. The property is independent (can pass from one thing to another) and dependent (exists only on the thing). Example: color, weight, shape are properties — but the thing without any properties is an empty X. The dissolution of the thing into its properties leads to matter (the jumble of all properties), then to force/expression, finally to inner/outer.

Origin: Lat. *proprietas* (that which is one's own). Aristotle: *symbebēkos* (accident) on the substrate. Locke: primary vs. secondary qualities. Hume: the thing is a bundle of perceptions. Hegel: dialectical dissolution of the concept of the thing through its properties.

In Hegel: Enc. §125-130; SL Vol. 2, Appearance

Cross-references: Thing, Substance, Accident, Matter, Force, Appearance, Logic of Essence

Commentary on the Logic, Chapter 6

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