Abstract of "Contrariety and the Individuation of Properties"
Crawford L. Elder

When do different predicates pick out the same property, and when does one predicate pick out different properties? how are properties individuated? This paper addresses that question from the standpoint of property-realism. But property-realists have standardly seen properties as what ground resemblances among their bearers. This paper takes properties as what ground contrasts between their bearers and other objects. A property's identity lies in its differing to different degrees from its proper contraries, in other words, lies in its place in a contrary-space. The standard view locates a property"s identity in what it is like in itself. This either leads to a vicious regress (e.g. Shoemaker), or makes property-identity untraceable and without consequence (e.g. Robinson, Armstrong). Individuation via contraries avoids these problems and moreover implies interesting results, e.g. that there are no conjunctive properties.