Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Richard Cumberland, Julien Offray de La Mettrie and Hilary Putnam

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2 ideas

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 1. Physical Objects

2351	Aristotle says an object (e.g. a lamp) has identity if its parts stay together when it is moved [Putnam]
	Full Idea: The parts of a lamp stay together when it is moved (which is one of Aristotle's criteria for objecthood).
	From: Hilary Putnam (Representation and Reality [1988], §7 p.110)
	A reaction: Metaphysics 1052a26 (just after the cross-reference) says a thing may be unified 'if its movement is single'.

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 2. Abstract Objects / b. Need for abstracta

18950	Physics is full of non-physical entities, such as space-vectors [Putnam]
	Full Idea: Physics is full of references to such 'non-physical' entities as state-vectors, Hamiltonians, Hilbert space etc.
	From: Hilary Putnam (Philosophy of Logic [1971], Ch.2)
	A reaction: I take these to be concepts which are 'abstracted' from the physical facts, and so they don't strike me as being much of an ontological problem, or an objection to nominalism (which Putnam takes them to be).