Just wondering..:)

Can it be proved that an apple would still be an apple even if you remove all its characteristics?

Re : Just wondering..:)

Hmm that is a strange question, but an interesting one nonetheless!

An apple is defined by various things: what it tastes like, the biological genus/species that it belongs to.

If you remove those things from it - take it out of the genus of apples and so long, then really it is no longer an apple.

Re : Just wondering..:)

Then what would it be .....?

Re : Just wondering..:)

If you remove all the characteristics of something, then it would not be that object anymore if you believe that the characteristics of the object are what make it that object.

Whether that is a case depends on what you are talking about.

If you have something made of gold, and describe it as gold, then you can melt the object, reshape it etc etc, and it is still gold, because it is still made of gold.

If you have an apple and you take away all the qualities that made it an apple, the debate comes down to semantics: what you actually mean by the characteristics. If you mean an apple is red and round and grows on a tree, then take the apple off a tree and cut a slice off it and peel it then you would still say that was an apple.

If you mean change the chemical composition so that it is different and that was what you meant by being an apple, then it seems less clear that what you still have left is an apple!