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Full Idea
Hart argues that the smallest heap consists of four objects: three on the bottom, one on the top.
Gist of Idea
The smallest heap has four objects: three on the bottom, one on the top
Source
report of William D. Hart (Hat-Tricks and Heaps [1992]) by Roy Sorensen - Vagueness and Contradiction Intro
Book Ref
Sorensen,Roy: 'Vagueness and Contradiction' [OUP 2004], p.2
A Reaction
If the objects were rough bolders, you could get away with two on the bottom. He's wrong. No one would accept as a 'heap' four minute grains barely visible to the naked eye. No one would describe such a group of items in a supermarket as a heap.
| 1512 | Zeno is wrong that one grain of millet makes a sound; why should one grain achieve what the whole bushel does? [Aristotle on Zeno of Elea] |
| 6008 | Removing one grain doesn't destroy a heap, so a heap can't be destroyed [Eubulides, by Dancy,R] |
| 8194 | Surely there is no exact single grain that brings a heap into existence [Dummett] |
| 17583 | There are no heaps [Inwagen] |
| 9117 | The smallest heap has four objects: three on the bottom, one on the top [Hart,WD, by Sorensen] |
| 21599 | A sorites stops when it collides with an opposite sorites [Williamson] |