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THE UNRESOLVED PUZZLE ABOUT POSTHUMOUS PREDICATION

THE UNRESOLVED PUZZLE ABOUT POSTHUMOUS PREDICATION THE UNRESOLVED PUZZLE ABOUT POSTIlUMOUS PREDICATION Ishtiyaque HAJI Simon Frazer University Introduction That there is a puzzle about posthumous predication becomes evident if one ponders the following set of propositions: (1) Napoleon, the emperor who fought some famous battle, now no longer exists. (2) Napoleon now has the property of being eulogized by someone. «2) is meant to be an example of posthumous predication.) (3) For any entity, x, time, t, and property, p, if at t, x has p, then x exists at t. This set is inconsistent - the conjunction of any two of its members entails the denial of the third, yet each member seems true. There are various options that can be pursued to evade the difficulty. For instance, one might accept (3) and deny (2), insisting that (2) does not ascribe to Napoleon any property at all. Or one might try developing Harry Silverstein's view that Napoleon timelessly has the property of being eulogized, but properties had timelessly cannot be had posthu­ mously.2 Recently David-Hillel Ruben has propounded an ingenious "Cam­ bridge Solution" according to which (3) in its unqualified form is incor­ rect. In what follows I first summarize Professor Ruben's novel solution. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Grazer Philosophische Studien Brill

THE UNRESOLVED PUZZLE ABOUT POSTHUMOUS PREDICATION

Haji, Ishtiyaque
Grazer Philosophische Studien , Volume 38 (1): 7 – Aug 13, 1990
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0165-9227
eISSN
1875-6735
DOI
10.1163/18756735-90000446
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

THE UNRESOLVED PUZZLE ABOUT POSTIlUMOUS PREDICATION Ishtiyaque HAJI Simon Frazer University Introduction That there is a puzzle about posthumous predication becomes evident if one ponders the following set of propositions: (1) Napoleon, the emperor who fought some famous battle, now no longer exists. (2) Napoleon now has the property of being eulogized by someone. «2) is meant to be an example of posthumous predication.) (3) For any entity, x, time, t, and property, p, if at t, x has p, then x exists at t. This set is inconsistent - the conjunction of any two of its members entails the denial of the third, yet each member seems true. There are various options that can be pursued to evade the difficulty. For instance, one might accept (3) and deny (2), insisting that (2) does not ascribe to Napoleon any property at all. Or one might try developing Harry Silverstein's view that Napoleon timelessly has the property of being eulogized, but properties had timelessly cannot be had posthu­ mously.2 Recently David-Hillel Ruben has propounded an ingenious "Cam­ bridge Solution" according to which (3) in its unqualified form is incor­ rect. In what follows I first summarize Professor Ruben's novel solution.

Journal

Grazer Philosophische Studien – Brill

Published: Aug 13, 1990

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