To complete the definition it is necessary, however, to define the
sense in which "different from A" is to be understood. There are two
different senses which the statement that A is different from B may
bear. It may be meant merely that A is _numerically_ different from
B, _other_ than B, not identical with B. Or it may be meant that not
only is this the case, but also that A is related to B in a way which
can be roughly expressed by saying that A is _qualitatively_ different
from B. And of these two meanings, those who say "All relations make
a _difference_ to their terms," always, I think, mean difference
in the latter sense and not merely in the former. That is to say,
they mean, that if P be a relational property which belongs to A,
then the absence of P entails not only numerical difference from A,
but qualitative difference. But, in fact, from the proposition that
a thing is qualitatively different from A, it does follow that it
is also numerically different. And hence they are maintaining that
every relational property is "internal to" its terms in both of two
different senses at the same time. They are maintaining that, if P be a
relational property which belongs to A, then P is internal to A both in
the sense (1) that the absence of P entails qualitative difference from
A; and (2) that the absence of P entails numerical difference from A.
It seems to me that neither of these propositions is true; and I will
say something about each in turn.
As for the first, I said before that I think some relational properties
really are "internal to" their terms, though by no means all are.
But, if we understand "internal to" in this first sense, I am not
really sure that any are. In order to get an example of one which
was, we should have, I think, to say that any two different qualities
are always _qualitatively_ different from one another: that, for
instance, it is not only the case that anything which is pure red is
qualitatively different from anything which is pure blue, but that
the quality "pure red" itself is qualitatively different from the
quality "pure blue." I am not quite sure that we can say this, but I
think we can; and if so, it is easy to get an example of a relational
property which is internal in our first sense. The quality "orange" is
intermediate in shade between the qualities yellow and red. This is a
relational property, and it is quite clear that, on our assumption,
it is an internal one. Since it is quite clear that any quality which
were _not_ intermediate between yellow and red, would necessarily
be _other_ than orange; and if any quality _other_ than orange must
be _qualitatively_ different from orange, then it follows that
"intermediate between yellow and red" is internal to "orange." That is
to say, the absence of the relational property "intermediate between
yellow and red," _entails_ the property "different in quality from
orange."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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