more from Aristotle

Single Idea 13270

[catalogued under 4. Formal Logic / G. Formal Mereology / 1. Mereology]

Full Idea

There is a difficulty about part and whole, ...whether the part and the whole are one or more than one, and in what way they can be one or many, and, if they are more than one, in what way they are more than one.

Gist of Idea

Are a part and whole one or many? Either way, what is the cause?

Source

Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 185b11), quoted by Kathrin Koslicki - The Structure of Objects 6.3

Book Reference

Koslicki,Kathrin: 'The Structure of Objects' [OUP 2008], p.125


A Reaction

He only states the problem here, but doesn't pursue it. I take the real question of mereology to be what makes a many into a one. I don't see a problem with a many being simultaneously a one.