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Single Idea 10664

[filed under theme 9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 5. Composition of an Object ]

Full Idea

Complex particulars are of at least three types: masses (which sum, of which we do not ask 'how many?' but 'how much?'); composite individuals (how many?, and summing usually fails); and sets (only divisible one way, unlike composites).

Gist of Idea

Complex particulars are either masses, or composites, or sets

Source

Keith Hossack (Plurals and Complexes [2000], 1)

Book Ref

-: 'British Soc for the Philosophy of Science' [-], p.412

A Reaction

A composite pile of grains of sand gradually becomes a mass, and drops of water become 'water everywhere'. A set of people divides into individual humans, but redescribe the elements as the union of males and females?

The 23 ideas with the same theme [objects seen as made up of their parts]:

15846 In Parmenides, if composition is identity, a whole is nothing more than its parts [Plato, by Harte,V]
374 If one object is divided into its parts, someone can then say that one are many and many is one [Plato]
597 Is there a house over and above its bricks? [Aristotle]
12507 A mass consists of its atoms, so the addition or removal of one changes its identity [Locke]
14749 Identity is an atemporal relation, but composition is relative to times [Wiggins, by Sider]
14748 The many are many and the one is one, so they can't be identical [Lewis]
6129 Lewis affirms 'composition as identity' - that an object is no more than its parts [Lewis, by Merricks]
15446 Composition is not just making new things from old; there are too many counterexamples [Lewis]
17560 If contact causes composition, do two colliding balls briefly make one object? [Inwagen]
17561 If bricks compose a house, that is at least one thing, but it might be many things [Inwagen]
3304 Why should packed-together particles be a thing (Mt Everest), but not scattered ones? [Benardete,JA]
8279 The identity of composite objects isn't fixed by original composition, because how do you identify the origin? [Lowe]
14747 'Composition as identity' says that an object just is the objects which compose it [Sider]
19302 If a chair could be made of slightly different material, that could lead to big changes [Hale]
10661 'Composition is identity' says multitudes are the reality, loosely composing single things [Varzi]
6127 'Unrestricted composition' says any two things can make up a third thing [Merricks]
6131 Composition as identity is false, as identity is never between a single thing and many things [Merricks]
6132 Composition as identity is false, as it implies that things never change their parts [Merricks]
6141 There is no visible difference between statues, and atoms arranged statuewise [Merricks]
12866 Composition is asymmetric and transitive [Simons]
14892 The idea of composition, that parts of the world are 'made of' something, is no longer helpful [Ladyman/Ross]
10664 Complex particulars are either masses, or composites, or sets [Hossack]
10678 The relation of composition is indispensable to the part-whole relation for individuals [Hossack]