Intrinsic and extrinsic properties (philosophy)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An intrinsic property is a property that an object or a thing has of itself, independently of other things, including its context. An extrinsic property is a property that depends on a thing's relationship with other things. For example, mass is a physical intrinsic property of any object, whereas weight is an extrinsic property that varies depending on the strength of the gravitational field in which the object is placed.

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

(“Extrinsic Properties”, in Philosophical Studies 44, 1983: 111-2)

Intrinsic properties are fundamental in understanding Kantian deontological 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 regards to ethics and morality, as opposed to consequentialist utilitarian arguments that an action should be viewed by the value of its outcomes.