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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]
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374
|
If one object is divided into its parts, someone can then say that one are many and many is one
[Plato]
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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]
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15446
|
Composition is not just making new things from old; there are too many counterexamples
[Lewis]
|
17560
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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
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'Composition is identity' says multitudes are the reality, loosely composing single things
[Varzi]
|
6127
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'Unrestricted composition' says any two things can make up a third thing
[Merricks]
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6131
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Composition as identity is false, as identity is never between a single thing and many things
[Merricks]
|
6132
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Composition as identity is false, as it implies that things never change their parts
[Merricks]
|
6141
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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]
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