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Single Idea 13272

[filed under theme 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 1. Unifying an Object / b. Unifying aggregates ]

Full Idea

In general those things that do not admit of division [diairesis] are one insofar as they do not admit of it.

Gist of Idea

Things are one to the extent that they are indivisible

Source

Aristotle (Metaphysics [c.324 BCE], 1016b03)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Metaphysics', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,Hugh [Penguin 1998], p.123

A Reaction

Aristotle gives a man, an animal and a magnitude as examples. The interesting thing here is that being 'one' seems to come in degrees, where most metaphysicians long for oneness to be an absolute.

The 18 ideas with the same theme [whether a mere assemblage of parts can be unified]:

3357 Democritus denies reality to large objects, because atomic entities can't combine to produce new ones [Benardete,JA on Democritus]
15851 Parts must belong to a created thing with a distinct form [Plato]
13272 Things are one to the extent that they are indivisible [Aristotle]
17842 Indivisibility is the cause of unity, either in movement, or in the account or thought [Aristotle]
17860 Things are unified by contact, mixture and position [Aristotle]
14046 A 'body' is a conception of an aggregate, with properties defined by application conditions [Epicurus]
17555 'One' can mean undivided and not a multitude, or it can add measurement, giving number [Aquinas]
16770 It is absurd that there is no difference between a genuinely unified thing, and a mere aggregate [Duns Scotus]
17248 If a whole body is moved, its parts must move with it [Hobbes]
17188 A thing is unified if its parts produce a single effect [Spinoza]
17028 Particles mutually attract, and cohere at short distances [Newton]
12699 A body would be endless disunited parts, if it did not have a unifying form or soul [Leibniz]
12921 Accidental unity has degrees, from a mob to a society to a machine or organism [Leibniz]
14112 A set has some sort of unity, but not enough to be a 'whole' [Russell]
17571 Every physical thing is either a living organism or a simple [Inwagen]
16072 'The rock' either refers to an object, or to a collection of parts, or to some stuff [Burke,M, by Wasserman]
10726 Things can't be fusions of universals, because two things could then be one thing [Oliver]
10725 Abstract sets of universals can't be bundled to make concrete things [Oliver]