Single Idea 14469

[catalogued under 9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 6. Nihilism about Objects]

Full Idea

The Overdetermination Argument: a baseball is irrelevant to whether its atoms shatter a window, the shattering is caused by the atoms in concert, the shattering is not overdetermined, so if the baseball exists it doesn't cause the shattering.

Gist of Idea

Overdetermination: the atoms do all the causing, so the baseball causes no breakage

Source

Trenton Merricks (Objects and Persons [2003], 3)

Book Reference

Merricks,Trenton: 'Objects and Persons' [OUP 2003], p.56


A Reaction

An obvious thought is that no individual atom does any sort of breaking at all - it is only when they act as a team, and an appropriate name for the team is a 'baseball', and the team is real.

Related Idea

Idea 14472 If atoms 'arranged baseballwise' break a window, that analytically entails that a baseball did it [Merricks, by Thomasson]