Generative Plenitude
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Abstract
The doctrine of Material Plenitude claims that, for any given object, there are a whole horde of other objects coincident with that first one, and differing from it only in what properties are had essentially and accidentally. The most fleshed out versions of Material Plenitude have been developed in a setting where essence and accident are understood in modal terms (having aproperty accidentally is, for instance, having the property but possibly not having it); but some philosophers have recognized such modal accounts of essence are importantly lacking and so turned to a finer-grained account of essence. In this paper, I develop a version of Material Plenitude suitable for fine-grained views about essence. Along the way, I show that Material Plenitude and fine-grined essence can lead to a paradox analogous to Russell's Paradox of sets, and accordingly suggest a construction similar to the iterative conception of sets which can escape paradox.