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Single Idea 12866
[filed under theme 9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 5. Composition of an Object
]
Full Idea
Composition is asymmetric and transitive: if a is made up of b, and b of c, then a is made up of c; and if a is made of b, then b is not made up of a. We cannot say the snow is made up of the snowball.
Gist of Idea
Composition is asymmetric and transitive
Source
Peter Simons (Parts [1987], 6.5)
Book Ref
Simons,Peter: 'Parts: a Study in Ontology' [OUP 1987], p.238
A Reaction
...And snowballs composed of snow can then compose a snowman (transitivity).
The
69 ideas
from 'Parts'
12813
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Two standard formalisations of part-whole theory are the Calculus of Individuals, and Mereology
[Simons]
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12815
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Classical mereology doesn't apply well to the objects around us
[Simons]
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12819
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A 'part' has different meanings for individuals, classes, and masses
[Simons]
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12816
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Classical mereology doesn't handle temporal or modal notions very well
[Simons]
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12820
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Without extensional mereology two objects can occupy the same position
[Simons]
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12814
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Classical mereology says there are 'sums', for whose existence there is no other evidence
[Simons]
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12817
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'Mereological extensionality' says objects with the same parts are identical
[Simons]
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12822
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Proper or improper part: x < y, 'x is (a) part of y'
[Simons]
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12823
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Overlap: two parts overlap iff they have a part in common, expressed as 'x o y'
[Simons]
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12824
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Disjoint: two individuals are disjoint iff they do not overlap, written 'x | y'
[Simons]
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12825
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Product: the product of two individuals is the sum of all of their overlaps, written 'x · y'
[Simons]
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12826
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Sum: the sum of individuals is what is overlapped if either of them are, written 'x + y'
[Simons]
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12827
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Difference: the difference of individuals is the remainder of an overlap, written 'x - y'
[Simons]
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12828
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General sum: the sum of objects satisfying some predicate, written σx(Fx)
[Simons]
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12829
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General product: the nucleus of all objects satisfying a predicate, written πx(Fx)
[Simons]
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12830
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Universe: the mereological sum of all objects whatever, written 'U'
[Simons]
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12821
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The part-relation is transitive and asymmetric (and thus irreflexive)
[Simons]
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12832
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Complement: the rest of the Universe apart from some individual, written x-bar
[Simons]
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12831
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Atom: an individual with no proper parts, written 'At x'
[Simons]
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12833
|
If there are c atoms, this gives 2^c - 1 individuals, so there can't be just 2 or 12 individuals
[Simons]
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12834
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Criticisms of mereology: parts? transitivity? sums? identity? four-dimensional?
[Simons]
|
12835
|
Does Tibbles remain the same cat when it loses its tail?
[Simons]
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12837
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Four dimensional-objects are stranger than most people think
[Simons]
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12838
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Four-dimensional ontology has no change, since that needs an object, and time to pass
[Simons]
|
12836
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Fans of process ontology cheat, since river-stages refer to 'rivers'
[Simons]
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12839
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Relativity has an ontology of things and events, not on space-time diagrams
[Simons]
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12842
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There are real relational changes, as well as bogus 'Cambridge changes'
[Simons]
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12840
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I do not think there is a general identity condition for events
[Simons]
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12841
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I don't believe in processes
[Simons]
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12844
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Dissective: stuff is dissective if parts of the stuff are always the stuff
[Simons]
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12843
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With activities if you are doing it you've done it, with performances you must finish to have done it
[Simons]
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12845
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Some natural languages don't distinguish between singular and plural
[Simons]
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12846
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A 'group' is a collection with a condition which constitutes their being united
[Simons]
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18847
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Each wheel is part of a car, but the four wheels are not a further part
[Simons]
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12847
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Mass nouns admit 'much' and 'a little', and resist 'many' and 'few'.
[Simons]
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12848
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The same members may form two groups
[Simons]
|
12850
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To individuate something we must pick it out, but also know its limits of variation
[Simons]
|
12849
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Sums are more plausible for pluralities and masses than they are for individuals
[Simons]
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12854
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An entrepreneur and a museum curator would each be happy with their ship at the end
[Simons]
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12855
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The 'best candidate' theories mistakenly assume there is one answer to 'Which is the real ship?'
[Simons]
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12856
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Intermittent objects would be respectable if they occurred in nature, as well as in artefacts
[Simons]
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12857
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Tibbles isn't Tib-plus-tail, because Tibbles can survive its loss, but the sum can't
[Simons]
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12858
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Mixtures disappear if nearly all of the mixture is one ingredient
[Simons]
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12859
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A mixture can have different qualities from its ingredients.
[Simons]
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12860
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Sortal nouns for continuants tell you their continuance- and cessation-conditions
[Simons]
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12864
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We say 'b is part of a', 'b is a part of a', 'b are a part of a', or 'b are parts of a'.
[Simons]
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12862
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Gold is not its atoms, because the atoms must be all gold, but gold contains neutrons
[Simons]
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12863
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Mass terms (unlike plurals) are used with indifference to whether they can exist in units
[Simons]
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12865
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Analytic philosophers may prefer formal systems because natural language is such mess
[Simons]
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12861
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'The wolves' are the matter of 'the pack'; the latter is a group, with different identity conditions
[Simons]
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12866
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Composition is asymmetric and transitive
[Simons]
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12867
|
A hand constitutes a fist (when clenched), but a fist is not composed of an augmented hand
[Simons]
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12871
|
Objects have their essential properties because of the kind of objects they are
[Simons]
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12870
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We must distinguish the de dicto 'must' of propositions from the de re 'must' of essence
[Simons]
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12872
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The zygote is an essential initial part, for a sexually reproduced organism
[Simons]
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12873
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Original parts are the best candidates for being essential to artefacts
[Simons]
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12874
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An essential part of an essential part is an essential part of the whole
[Simons]
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12875
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One false note doesn't make it a performance of a different work
[Simons]
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12877
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Sums of things in different categories are found within philosophy.
[Simons]
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12876
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Philosophy is stuck on the Fregean view that an individual is anything with a proper name
[Simons]
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12879
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Independent objects can exist apart, and maybe even entirely alone
[Simons]
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12880
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Moments are things like smiles or skids, which are founded on other things
[Simons]
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12881
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A smiling is an event with causes, but the smile is a continuant without causes
[Simons]
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12883
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Moving disturbances are are moments which continuously change their basis
[Simons]
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12882
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A wave is maintained by a process, but it isn't a process
[Simons]
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12886
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A whole requires some unique relation which binds together all of the parts
[Simons]
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12885
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Objects like chess games, with gaps in them, are thereby less unified
[Simons]
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12889
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The limits of change for an individual depend on the kind of individual
[Simons]
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12888
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The wholeness of a melody seems conventional, but of an explosion it seems natural
[Simons]
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