Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Properties
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Some properties a thing has simply by its own condition, such as mass; others depend on its interaction with the world, such as weight. The former are intrinsic properties and the latter extrinsic. This apparently intuitive distinction has entered many debates in ethics, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of physics.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Assign properties: decide whether a property changes with the environment, separating constitution from relation. - Attribute change: determine whether a change comes from the object itself or from a change in external relations. - Fix the baseline: strip relational properties before comparing across situations, avoiding misjudgment.
Anchor fast decisions
Mass does not change with the gravitational field, while weight varies with the environment, which shows that holding an extrinsic property depends on relations to other things. The analysis usually appeals to modality: a property is intrinsic just in case having it neither entails standing in a relation to contingent things nor entails that the object would differ were it alone.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/intrinsic-extrinsic/verified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS