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Single Idea 12844

[filed under theme 4. Formal Logic / G. Formal Mereology / 2. Terminology of Mereology ]

Full Idea

Water is said not to be 'dissective', since there are parts of any quantity of water which are not water.

Gist of Idea

Dissective: stuff is dissective if parts of the stuff are always the stuff

Source

Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 4.2)

Book Ref

Simons,Peter: 'Parts: a Study in Ontology' [OUP 1987], p.139


A Reaction

This won't seem to do for any physical matter, but presumably parts of numbers are always numbers.

Related Ideas

Idea 17426 A concept creating a unit must isolate and unify what falls under it [Frege]

Idea 17437 Non-arbitrary division means that what falls under the concept cannot be divided into more of the same [Frege, by Koslicki]


The 11 ideas with the same theme [technical vocabulary used in formal mereology]:

Proper or improper part: x < y, 'x is (a) part of y' [Simons]
Overlap: two parts overlap iff they have a part in common, expressed as 'x o y' [Simons]
Disjoint: two individuals are disjoint iff they do not overlap, written 'x | y' [Simons]
Product: the product of two individuals is the sum of all of their overlaps, written 'x · y' [Simons]
Sum: the sum of individuals is what is overlapped if either of them are, written 'x + y' [Simons]
Difference: the difference of individuals is the remainder of an overlap, written 'x - y' [Simons]
General sum: the sum of objects satisfying some predicate, written σx(Fx) [Simons]
General product: the nucleus of all objects satisfying a predicate, written πx(Fx) [Simons]
Universe: the mereological sum of all objects whatever, written 'U' [Simons]
Atom: an individual with no proper parts, written 'At x' [Simons]
Dissective: stuff is dissective if parts of the stuff are always the stuff [Simons]