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Full Idea
Holism inherits all the difficulties associated with the term 'sum' and adds one of its own, when it says a whole is 'more than' the sum of its parts. This seems to say it has something extra? Is this something extra a part?
Gist of Idea
If something is 'more than' the sum of its parts, is the extra thing another part, or not?
Source
Verity Harte (Plato on Parts and Wholes [2002], 1.1)
Book Ref
Harte,Verity: 'Plato on Parts and Wholes' [OUP 2002], p.11
A Reaction
[compressed] Most people take the claim that a thing is more than the sum of its parts as metaphorical, I would think (except perhaps emergentists about the mind, and they are wrong).
Related Ideas
Idea 15838 The problem with the term 'sum' is that it is singular [Harte,V]
Idea 15840 If a syllable is more than its elements, is the extra bit also an element? [Aristotle]
| 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] |