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Full Idea
If a cupful of dirty water is mixed evenly with a ton of earth, no dirty water remains, and the same goes if we mix it evenly with a lake of clean water.
Gist of Idea
Mixtures disappear if nearly all of the mixture is one ingredient
Source
Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 6.2)
Book Ref
Simons,Peter: 'Parts: a Study in Ontology' [OUP 1987], p.219
A Reaction
This means that a mixture is a vague entity, subject to the sorites paradox. If the dirt was cyanide, we would consider the water to be polluted by it down to a much lower level.
| 14503 | If a mixture does not contain measure and proportion, it is corrupted and destroyed [Plato] |
| 15857 | Any mixture which lacks measure and proportion doesn't even count as a mixture at all [Plato] |
| 15320 | Magnetic and gravity fields can occupy the same place without merging [Harré/Madden] |
| 12858 | Mixtures disappear if nearly all of the mixture is one ingredient [Simons] |
| 12859 | A mixture can have different qualities from its ingredients. [Simons] |
| 12818 | We shouldn't think some water retains its identity when it is mixed with air [Laycock] |
| 16727 | In mixtures, the four elements ceased to exist, replaced by a mixed body with a form [Pasnau] |