Essential vs. Accidental Properties
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[Revised entry by Philip Atkins, Fabrice Correia, and Teresa Robertson Ishii on August 21, 2026.
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
The terms 'essential property' and 'accidental property' have many distinct senses in philosophy. Two have figured prominently in analytic metaphysics of the last 70 years or so. There is the modal sense, according to which (at least as a first pass) an essential property of an object is a property that it must have while an accidental property of an
Changes to: Main text, Bibliography, notes.html]
The terms 'essential property' and 'accidental property' have many distinct senses in philosophy. Two have figured prominently in analytic metaphysics of the last 70 years or so. There is the modal sense, according to which (at least as a first pass) an essential property of an object is a property that it must have while an accidental property of an
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