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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