Single Idea 14482

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / c. Statue and clay]

Full Idea

An objection to the idea that statues are not identical to material lumps of stuff is the proliferation of instances of properties shared by those objects. If the mass of the statue is 500kg, and the mass of the lump is 500kg, do we have 1000kg?

Gist of Idea

If the statue and the lump are two objects, they require separate properties, so we could add their masses

Source

Amie L. Thomasson (Ordinary Objects [2007], 04.3)

Book Reference

Thomasson,Amie L.: 'Ordinary Objects' [OUP 2010], p.80


A Reaction

[compressed; she cites Rea 1997 and Zimmerman 1995] To wriggle out of this we would have to understand 'object' rather differently, so that an independent mass is not intrinsic to it. I leave this as an exercise for the reader.