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Full Idea
The difficulty with the claim that a whole is (just) the sum of its parts is what are we to understand by 'the sum'? ...If we say wholes are 'composites' of parts, how are we to understand the relation of composition?
Gist of Idea
What exactly is a 'sum', and what exactly is 'composition'?
Source
Verity Harte (Plato on Parts and Wholes [2002], 1.1)
Book Ref
Harte,Verity: 'Plato on Parts and Wholes' [OUP 2002], p.10
| 15838 | The problem with the term 'sum' is that it is singular [Harte,V] |
| 15837 | What exactly is a 'sum', and what exactly is 'composition'? [Harte,V] |
| 15839 | If something is 'more than' the sum of its parts, is the extra thing another part, or not? [Harte,V] |
| 15841 | Mereology began as a nominalist revolt against the commitments of set theory [Harte,V] |
| 15842 | An ad hominem refutation is reasonable, if it uses the opponent's assumptions [Harte,V] |
| 15848 | Mereology treats constitution as a criterion of identity, as shown in the axiom of extensionality [Harte,V] |
| 15858 | Traditionally, the four elements are just what persists through change [Harte,V] |