An intrinsic

property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ...

is a property that a thing has itself, including its context. An extrinsic (or relational) property is a property that depends on a thing's relationship with other things. For example,

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

is an intrinsic property of any

physical object In natural language and physical science, a physical object or material object (or simply an object or body) is a contiguous collection of matter, within a defined boundary (or surface), that exists in space and time. Usually contrasted with ...

, whereas

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

is an extrinsic property that varies depending on the strength of the gravitational field in which the respective object is placed. The question of intrinsicality and extrinsicality in empirically observable objects is a significant field of study in

ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

, the branch of

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of

being Existence is the state of having being or reality in contrast to nonexistence and nonbeing. Existence is often contrasted with essence: the essence of an entity is its essential features or qualities, which can be understood even if one do ...

Criteria

David Lewis offered a list of criteria that should condense the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic properties (numbers and

italics In typography, italic type is a cursive font based on a stylised form of calligraphic handwriting. Along with blackletter and roman type, it served as one of the major typefaces in the history of Western typography. Owing to the influence f ...

added): # A sentence or statement or proposition that ascribes intrinsic properties to something is entirely ''about that thing''; whereas an ascription of extrinsic properties to something is not entirely about that thing, though it may well be about some larger whole which includes that thing as part. # A thing has its intrinsic properties in virtue of ''the way that thing itself, and nothing else, is''. Not so for extrinsic properties, though a thing may well have these in virtue of the way some larger whole is. # The intrinsic properties of something ''depend only on that thing''; whereas the extrinsic properties of something may depend, wholly or partly, on something else. # If something has an intrinsic property, then so does ''any perfect duplicate'' of that thing; whereas duplicates situated in different surroundings will differ in their extrinsic properties.

Value

Intrinsic properties are fundamental in understanding Kantian

deontological In moral philosophy, deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek language, Greek: and ) is the normative ethics, normative ethical theory that the morality of an action should be based on whether that action itself is right or wrong under a ...

ethics, which is based upon the argument that an action should be viewed on its intrinsic value (the value of the action in itself) with regard to

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

and

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

, as opposed to

consequentialist In moral philosophy, consequentialism is a class of normative, teleological ethical theories that holds that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for judgement about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from ...

utilitarian In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...

arguments that an action should be viewed by the value of its outcomes.

Intrinsicism and extrinsicism

Intrinsicism

Intrinsicism is the belief that value is a non-relational characteristic of an object. This means that an object can be good or bad without reference to who it is good or bad for, and without reference to the reason it is good or bad. One example of this might be the belief that certain sex acts are intrinsically evil, even if they harm no one.

Extrinsicism

Extrinsicism is the tendency to place major emphasis on external matters rather than on more profound realities. In terms of morals and ethics, it tends to stress the external observance of laws and precepts, with lesser concern for the ultimate principles underlying moral conduct.Britannica
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References

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External links

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on intrinsic and extrinsic propertiesThe Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on intrinsic and extrinsic value
Metaphysical properties Ontology