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Single Idea 12867
[filed under theme 9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 6. Constitution of an Object
]
Full Idea
Composition entails constitution, but does the converse hold? A hand constitutes a fist in virtue of being clenched, but it is not obvious that it composes a fist, and certainly a fist is not composed of a hand plus some additional part.
Gist of Idea
A hand constitutes a fist (when clenched), but a fist is not composed of an augmented hand
Source
Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 6.5)
Book Ref
Simons,Peter: 'Parts: a Study in Ontology' [OUP 1987], p.238
A Reaction
There are subtleties of ordinary usage in 'compose' and 'constitute' which are worth teasing apart, but that isn't the last word on such relationships. 'Compose' seems to point towards matter, while 'constitute' seems to point towards form.
The
69 ideas
from 'Parts'
12813
|
Two standard formalisations of part-whole theory are the Calculus of Individuals, and Mereology
[Simons]
|
12815
|
Classical mereology doesn't apply well to the objects around us
[Simons]
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12819
|
A 'part' has different meanings for individuals, classes, and masses
[Simons]
|
12816
|
Classical mereology doesn't handle temporal or modal notions very well
[Simons]
|
12820
|
Without extensional mereology two objects can occupy the same position
[Simons]
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12814
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Classical mereology says there are 'sums', for whose existence there is no other evidence
[Simons]
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12817
|
'Mereological extensionality' says objects with the same parts are identical
[Simons]
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12822
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Proper or improper part: x < y, 'x is (a) part of y'
[Simons]
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12823
|
Overlap: two parts overlap iff they have a part in common, expressed as 'x o y'
[Simons]
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12824
|
Disjoint: two individuals are disjoint iff they do not overlap, written 'x | y'
[Simons]
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12825
|
Product: the product of two individuals is the sum of all of their overlaps, written 'x · y'
[Simons]
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12826
|
Sum: the sum of individuals is what is overlapped if either of them are, written 'x + y'
[Simons]
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12827
|
Difference: the difference of individuals is the remainder of an overlap, written 'x - y'
[Simons]
|
12828
|
General sum: the sum of objects satisfying some predicate, written σx(Fx)
[Simons]
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12829
|
General product: the nucleus of all objects satisfying a predicate, written πx(Fx)
[Simons]
|
12830
|
Universe: the mereological sum of all objects whatever, written 'U'
[Simons]
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12821
|
The part-relation is transitive and asymmetric (and thus irreflexive)
[Simons]
|
12832
|
Complement: the rest of the Universe apart from some individual, written x-bar
[Simons]
|
12831
|
Atom: an individual with no proper parts, written 'At x'
[Simons]
|
12833
|
If there are c atoms, this gives 2^c - 1 individuals, so there can't be just 2 or 12 individuals
[Simons]
|
12834
|
Criticisms of mereology: parts? transitivity? sums? identity? four-dimensional?
[Simons]
|
12835
|
Does Tibbles remain the same cat when it loses its tail?
[Simons]
|
12837
|
Four dimensional-objects are stranger than most people think
[Simons]
|
12838
|
Four-dimensional ontology has no change, since that needs an object, and time to pass
[Simons]
|
12836
|
Fans of process ontology cheat, since river-stages refer to 'rivers'
[Simons]
|
12839
|
Relativity has an ontology of things and events, not on space-time diagrams
[Simons]
|
12842
|
There are real relational changes, as well as bogus 'Cambridge changes'
[Simons]
|
12840
|
I do not think there is a general identity condition for events
[Simons]
|
12841
|
I don't believe in processes
[Simons]
|
12844
|
Dissective: stuff is dissective if parts of the stuff are always the stuff
[Simons]
|
12843
|
With activities if you are doing it you've done it, with performances you must finish to have done it
[Simons]
|
12845
|
Some natural languages don't distinguish between singular and plural
[Simons]
|
12846
|
A 'group' is a collection with a condition which constitutes their being united
[Simons]
|
18847
|
Each wheel is part of a car, but the four wheels are not a further part
[Simons]
|
12847
|
Mass nouns admit 'much' and 'a little', and resist 'many' and 'few'.
[Simons]
|
12848
|
The same members may form two groups
[Simons]
|
12850
|
To individuate something we must pick it out, but also know its limits of variation
[Simons]
|
12849
|
Sums are more plausible for pluralities and masses than they are for individuals
[Simons]
|
12854
|
An entrepreneur and a museum curator would each be happy with their ship at the end
[Simons]
|
12855
|
The 'best candidate' theories mistakenly assume there is one answer to 'Which is the real ship?'
[Simons]
|
12856
|
Intermittent objects would be respectable if they occurred in nature, as well as in artefacts
[Simons]
|
12857
|
Tibbles isn't Tib-plus-tail, because Tibbles can survive its loss, but the sum can't
[Simons]
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12858
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Mixtures disappear if nearly all of the mixture is one ingredient
[Simons]
|
12859
|
A mixture can have different qualities from its ingredients.
[Simons]
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12860
|
Sortal nouns for continuants tell you their continuance- and cessation-conditions
[Simons]
|
12864
|
We say 'b is part of a', 'b is a part of a', 'b are a part of a', or 'b are parts of a'.
[Simons]
|
12862
|
Gold is not its atoms, because the atoms must be all gold, but gold contains neutrons
[Simons]
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12863
|
Mass terms (unlike plurals) are used with indifference to whether they can exist in units
[Simons]
|
12865
|
Analytic philosophers may prefer formal systems because natural language is such mess
[Simons]
|
12861
|
'The wolves' are the matter of 'the pack'; the latter is a group, with different identity conditions
[Simons]
|
12866
|
Composition is asymmetric and transitive
[Simons]
|
12867
|
A hand constitutes a fist (when clenched), but a fist is not composed of an augmented hand
[Simons]
|
12871
|
Objects have their essential properties because of the kind of objects they are
[Simons]
|
12870
|
We must distinguish the de dicto 'must' of propositions from the de re 'must' of essence
[Simons]
|
12872
|
The zygote is an essential initial part, for a sexually reproduced organism
[Simons]
|
12873
|
Original parts are the best candidates for being essential to artefacts
[Simons]
|
12874
|
An essential part of an essential part is an essential part of the whole
[Simons]
|
12875
|
One false note doesn't make it a performance of a different work
[Simons]
|
12877
|
Sums of things in different categories are found within philosophy.
[Simons]
|
12876
|
Philosophy is stuck on the Fregean view that an individual is anything with a proper name
[Simons]
|
12879
|
Independent objects can exist apart, and maybe even entirely alone
[Simons]
|
12880
|
Moments are things like smiles or skids, which are founded on other things
[Simons]
|
12881
|
A smiling is an event with causes, but the smile is a continuant without causes
[Simons]
|
12883
|
Moving disturbances are are moments which continuously change their basis
[Simons]
|
12882
|
A wave is maintained by a process, but it isn't a process
[Simons]
|
12886
|
A whole requires some unique relation which binds together all of the parts
[Simons]
|
12885
|
Objects like chess games, with gaps in them, are thereby less unified
[Simons]
|
12889
|
The limits of change for an individual depend on the kind of individual
[Simons]
|
12888
|
The wholeness of a melody seems conventional, but of an explosion it seems natural
[Simons]
|