Properties (PDF)

The world is populated with many different objects, to which we
often attribute properties: we say, for example, that grass is
green, that the earth is spherical, that humans are animals, and
that murder is wrong. We also take it that these properties are
things in their own right: there is something in which being green,
or spherical, or an animal, or wrong, consists, and that certain
scientific or normative projects are engaged in uncovering the
essences of such properties. In light of this, an important
question arises: what kind of things should we take properties
themselves to be?

In Properties, Douglas Edwards gives an engaging,
accessible, and up-to-date introduction to the many theories of
properties available. Edwards charts the central positions in the
debate over properties, including the views that properties are
universals, that properties are constructed from tropes, and that
properties are classes of objects, and assesses the benefits and
disadvantages of each. Attempts to deny the existence of properties
are also considered, along with 'pluralist' proposals,
which aim to accommodate the different kinds of properties that are
found in various philosophical debates.

Properties is the ideal introduction to this topic and will
be an invaluable resource for scholars and students wishing to
learn more about the important roles that properties have played,
and continue to play, in contemporary philosophy.