Single Idea 14210

[catalogued under 9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / b. Sums of parts]

Full Idea

The mereological sum of the coffee in my cup, the ink in this sentence, a nearby sparrow, and my left shoe is a miscellaneous mess of an object, yet its boundaries are by no means unrelated to the joints of nature.

Gist of Idea

A gerrymandered mereological sum can be a mess, but still have natural joints

Source

David Lewis (Putnam's Paradox [1984], 'What Might')

Book Reference

Lewis,David: 'Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology' [CUP 1999], p.65


A Reaction

In that case they do, but if there are no atoms at the root of physics then presumably their could also be thoroughly jointless assemblages, involving probability distributions etc. Even random scattered atoms seem rather short of joints.