Logik wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:11 pm
So I pose a question to all which deem themselves wise philosophers: Do you recognize that the question "How does X behave?" is infinitely more useful than the question "What is X?"
What X
is must be known before what X
does (its behavior) can be known. It is what X is (its nature or identity) that determines what X does.
An existent's identity or nature are, of course, all its characteristics or attributes (qualities) which will include its behavior, but its behavior is determined by its nature. Iodine, for example, is a purple-black non-metallic solid, a halogen along with fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and astatine. How iodine behaves, especially relative to other elements, is determined by iodine's own nature and structure.
As another writer pointed out, it is difficult to see how one could describe how anything behaves without first identifying what the thing is one is talking about.