The author examines the argument by H. Beebee and N. Sabbarton-Leary that Brian Ellis’s scientific essentialism is based on the “abuse” of the necessary a posteriori. He will first briefly survey various attempts to resist what he will call the “Kripkean essentialist argument” to locate Beebee’s and Sabbarton-Leary’s position properly. After that the author will argue that Beebee’s and Sabbarton-Leary’s argument is not successful; in particular, he will argue that under the most natural interpretation of their position it is not internally coherent, and that their argument is based on a superficial understanding of Kripkean necessity a posteriori.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.