Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Hermarchus, Keith Campbell and Clive Bell

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3 ideas

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 1. Physical Objects
Tropes are basic particulars, so concrete particulars are collections of co-located tropes [Campbell,K]
     Full Idea: If tropes are basic particulars, then concrete particulars count as dependent realities. They are collections of co-located tropes, depending on these tropes as a fleet does upon its component ships.
     From: Keith Campbell (The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars [1981], §2)
     A reaction: If I sail my yacht through a fleet, do I become part of it? Presumably trope theory could avoid a bundle view of objects. A bare substratum could be a magnet which attracts tropes.
Bundles must be unique, so the Identity of Indiscernibles is a necessity - which it isn't! [Campbell,K]
     Full Idea: Each individual is distinct from each other individual, so the bundle account of objects requires each bundle to be different from every other bundle. So the Identity of Indiscernibles must be a necessary truth, which, unfortunately, it is not.
     From: Keith Campbell (The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars [1981], §5)
     A reaction: Clearly the Identity of Indiscernibles is not a necessary truth (consider just two identical spheres). Location and time must enter into it. Could we not add a further individuation requirement to the necessary existence of a bundle? (Quinton)
9. Objects / F. Identity among Objects / 7. Indiscernible Objects
Two pure spheres in non-absolute space are identical but indiscernible [Campbell,K]
     Full Idea: The Identity of Indiscernibles is not a necessary truth. It fails in possible worlds where there are two identical spheres in a non-absolute space, or worlds without beginning or end where events are exactly cyclically repeated.
     From: Keith Campbell (The Metaphysic of Abstract Particulars [1981], §5)
     A reaction: The principle was always very suspect, and these seem nice counterexamples. As so often, epistemology and ontology had become muddled.