 Only abstract objects are capable of encoding properties, according to Zalta. To say that an abstract object encodes a property is to say that the property is included in our conception of the object. Thus, the fictional character Sherlock Holmes encodes the property of being a detective, even though Sherlock Holmes does not have this property. (In Zalta’s terminology, Sherlock Holmes does not exemplify this property. Sherlock Holmes exemplifies properties such as being created by Arthur Conan Doyle and having been portrayed by Jeremy Brett.) According to Zalta, being a detective is one of Sherlock Holmes’s essential properties. In contrast, being such that there are infinitely many primes is not one of Sherlock Holmes’s essential properties, since this property is not included in our conception of Sherlock Holmes.