Questions tagged [mereology]
24 questions
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Resisting a classic Buddhist Argument for Mereological Nihilism
I’ve been getting into mereology and this a classic Buddhist puzzle that he recommended. How can these premises be resisted?
A. If wholes exist, then either wholes are identical with their parts or distinct from them.
B. Wholes and their parts have…
Craigory
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How does one determine the boundary of an object?
Say we have what we would call an 'object' made of many components, can these 'components' be named objects themselves? In the case do we have an object or many 'objects'? Do we define an object to be 'isolated' things? Is it a choice how we express…
Confused
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Do wholes tell us what the parts are?
According to one reading of the atomic hypothesis it is parts that are fundamental and they tell us what wholes are, and in fact, what wholes are possible. For example:
A tree is made up of roots, trunk and branches.
A house is made up of floors,…
Mozibur Ullah
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What is the ontology of points?
This might be broad so let me narrow it. Concerning points and mereology, is it coherent to make points - extentionless entities - compose extended objects? If so, then the idea of "material point objects" is a coherent one and extension is no…
Jdog1998
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What is it called when the parts can only be understood in relation to the whole, and the whole only in relation to the parts?
I'm thinking about a circular situation where the parts can only be understood in relation to the whole, and the whole in relation to the parts. A hermeneutic circle might be one good example of this, but I have a feeling that it is a specialized…
ktm5124
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More about the relations between properties of parts and their wholes?
Hi I'm trying to discover any metaphysical necessities that connect the properties of a whole and the properties of its parts. I know the properties of the whole can be different than the properties of its parts, and am aware that both the fallacy…
Richard Bamford
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Who are some key modern philosophers who have addressed the paradoxes of parts and wholes (mereology)?
I've read Graham Priest's book One (2014). Where he offers a what he calls "gluon" theory of parts and wholes. (These are metaphysical gluons which are not related to gluons from particle physics, only the term is borrowed.) Priest's theory is an…
Avi C
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To what extent is the notion of "common" of philosophical interest?
The 2021 theme for a french competitive philosophical exam is: "the common". I'm not sure the expression really makes sense in English. In French, it is the adjective "commun" ( English. common) used as a substantive.
Bibliographies that have been…
Floridus Floridi
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Is composition more than the composite parts
Sorry for the somewhat dumb question! Please do see if you can make sense of the latter, and put it in formal or whatever terms.
If a chariot is equal to its parts then the chariot is not its "being" equal to its parts. Else changing the parts of a…
user6917
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What does “Objective Tendency” mean as used by Adorno?
I am beginning Minima Moralia and have found the dedication difficult to get through, but it seems like it contains important information. When discussing Hegel’s “relation to the subject,” and his tendency to “assign to individuation . . . an…
Rylee A.
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How might Western Metaphysicists respond to the puzzle of King Milinda/Nagasena’s Chariot
Example of the puzzle
How might Western Philosophers like Mereologcial Universalists or naturalistic metaphysicians reply to this?
Craigory
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How is the beginning of something determined?
Imagine I have an egg, powder, cocoa, flour, etc and want to make a "cake". I have been told the "cake" doesn't begin at any time because it's just the cocoa, egg, flour, etc in a different shape or form
What are the arguments against that?
ActualCry
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How does the Problem of the Many relate to Calculus?
How does the Problem of the Many relate to the philosophical basis of Calculus, if at all?
bob myers
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Can we really attribute property P to an object with multiple parts which differ with respect to P?
So I've got myself into a tangle with properties. I have quite a strong intuition about something, but a few have told me it's wrong. I'm hoping that either (i) my view is less controversial than they have made it out to be or (ii) it can be…
Harry Sherwood
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Mereology and realism
What do realists say about parts and wholes?
Do they never / sometimes / usually / always, claim that the reality of something is a part of it? By that I mean (roughly) e.g.:
Real cream is real because it is composed of milk
Real scientific events…
user6917