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Full Idea
The four wheels of a car are parts of it (each is part of it), but there is not a fifth part consisting of the four wheels.
Gist of Idea
Each wheel is part of a car, but the four wheels are not a further part
Source
Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 4.6)
Book Ref
Simons,Peter: 'Parts: a Study in Ontology' [OUP 1987], p.160
A Reaction
This raises questions about the transitivity of parthood. If there are parts of parts of wholes, the basic parts are OK, and the whole is OK, but how can there also be an intermediate part? Try counting the parts of this whole!
| 17245 | A part of a part is a part of a whole [Hobbes] |
| 18999 | y is only a proper part of x if there is a z which 'makes up the difference' between them [Yablo] |
| 10564 | We might combine the axioms of set theory with the axioms of mereology [Fine,K] |
| 14984 | Which should be primitive in mereology - part, or overlap? [Sider] |
| 12813 | Two standard formalisations of part-whole theory are the Calculus of Individuals, and Mereology [Simons] |
| 12816 | Classical mereology doesn't handle temporal or modal notions very well [Simons] |
| 12821 | The part-relation is transitive and asymmetric (and thus irreflexive) [Simons] |
| 18847 | Each wheel is part of a car, but the four wheels are not a further part [Simons] |
| 10677 | Extensional mereology needs two definitions and two axioms [Hossack] |