ABSTRACT
This chapter is about the determination relation that holds between a determinable property and its determinates. Properties related by determination belong to a category or family, such as the colors, shapes, temperatures, and so on. Attending to the determination relation sheds light on three jobs that properties perform: specification, comparison, and exclusion. The conceptual core of determination is specification, but determination is to be contrasted with species-genus relations and arbitrary disjunctions of properties. Determinates mark a special kind of comparison – a real resemblance. Indeed, comparisons might make sense only under a common determinable. Finally, determinates of the same determinable often exclude one another, though it is unclear whether this is a logical or a metaphysical necessity. Three theories have been developed to explain determination: asymmetric necessitation accounts, property space or determination dimension models, and causal subset accounts. Future work on determination should investigate whether all properties are determinates or determinables, as well as seeking an explanation as to why determinates exclude one another when they do so. Philosophers should continue to apply the determination relation to matters of indeterminacy, reduction, and other global metaphysical projects.
