ABSTRACT: In this essay, I will briefly try to explain the concepts of essential and accidental properties. This is so as to lay some ground work for a future discussion on the Doctrine of the Trinity.(*Note: This essay is right now at a very crude and unpolished stage. It will be polished up later.)

Ever watch the show Sliders ? It's on the Sci-Fi channel, on cable. If youre into science fiction and have cable, you might have caught it. Basically the show is about a bunch of humans who have found a found a portal into parallel universes, and as such can slide into a thousand different worlds where it's the same year and they're the same persons there. The only difference is that everything else in the world is different. So for example, one particular world that they might slide into might be a world where the Nazi's won World War II. Another might be a world where John F. Kennedy was not shot, etc... You get the point.

Following the same vein of thought, when you were a child, did you ever collect comic books ? In particular, Marvel comic's "What if ?" series ? Basically each issue would adress an alternative possibility to the outcome of a story previously published. The titles are self-explanatory: "What if the Hulk had the brain of Bruce Banner ?" or "What if Elektra had lived ?".

Moving on... My point in raising these examples is to bring to the front of you mind an odd observation. Is observation the right word ? Anyway, something to notice or think about with respect to the show sliders is that while an umpteen number of things change as the Sliders slide from world to world, another umpteen number of things dont change. And it is not just that these things do not change, it is more that they CANNOT change.

I have some examples that will illustrate the point. These are somewhat odd examples, but but they get across the point. Take for example the number '2'. In every world that the Sliders travel to, the number '2' is allways even. Same goes for 2 + 2 = 4. The sliders will never slide into a world where 2 + 2 = 5. Heres another example: In every world that the Sliders slide into, human beings are finite beings. There is no particular human that is omniscient, no matter what world they are in. Somethings remain constant, and somethings are differ.

In Philosophy, theres an idea that is similar to this, only it is a tad bit more of an anal idea. This idea is known as Possible Worlds. Basically a possible world is a "What if ?". It is a way the real world could have been. And when philosophers use the term 'world', they mean everything that exists...very literally everything ! From toothpaste, colors and concepts, ... to farts, burps and giggles, etc. Hmmm...If a philosopher saw the show Sliders, she would most certainly have many a bones to pick, the least of which being that the Sliders arent really sliding from one world to another, and that there is really no such thing as a parallel universe...but lets not get into any of that.

Anyways, like I said, from (possible)world to (possible) world, somethings can change and somthings cannot change. The things that can change are described as being accidental in nature, while the things that cannot change are described as being essential in nature. The essense remaineth the same.

Question : Why do you think that the terms accidental, and essential are used ?

Moving on...some examples.

Example:Accidental properties - In one possible world, I may be a Lawyer instead of an engineer, or I may be ultra muscle bound instead of simply being my thin self here. These qualities that are capable of changing from world to world are my accidental qualities.

Example:Essential properties - In any possible world that we can conceive of, or that exists, a triangle will only have 3 sides. It will never have more or less than 3 sides. It cant. The same is true for certian things about me. In every possible world, that I exist in, I will all ways have the quality of having been created in God's image. No possible world can exist where I have not been created in God's image. I'm not an animal !

by A. Raj Rao

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