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Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'On the Necessity of Origin' and 'Politics'

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3 ideas

9. Objects / C. Structure of Objects / 8. Parts of Objects / c. Wholes from parts

22525	The whole is prior to its parts, because parts are defined by their role [Aristotle]
	Full Idea: It is necessary for the whole to be prior to the part. For if the whole body is put to death, there will no longer be a foot or a hand. For everything is defined by its function and by its capacity (so the hands and feet would no longer be the same).
	From: Aristotle (Politics [c.332 BCE], 1253a20)
	A reaction: It may be a mistake to ask which of these is 'prior'. If bricks make a wall, the whole depends on the parts, but the parts can exist without the whole. They continue to be possible parts of a wall (unlike severed feet).

9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 10. Beginning of an Object

18892	Suppose a world where I'm from different gametes; add my gametes; which one is more me? [McGinn]
	Full Idea: It seems essential that you come from your gametes. Suppose (for reductio) that I come from Nixon's actual gametes. Now add my actual gametes to that possible world, and suppose they become an adult. Which has the stronger title to be me?
	From: Colin McGinn (On the Necessity of Origin [1976], p.132), quoted by Nathan Salmon - Reference and Essence (1st edn) 7.25.5
	A reaction: [See Nathan Salmon 1981:209] Feels like the Ship of Theseus. You say 'that's Theseus Ship', until the rival ship appears around the headland. Confusion. If Nixon's gametes can produce McGinn, the second gametes could produce a Nixon! Then what?

9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 12. Origin as Essential

12019	McGinn falsely claims necessity of origin is a special case of the necessity of identity [Forbes,G on McGinn]
	Full Idea: McGinn assimilates the origin relation among organisms to the identity relation, so that the necessity of origin becomes a special case of the necessity of identity. We argue that this assimilation is illegitimate.
	From: comment on Colin McGinn (On the Necessity of Origin [1976]) by Graeme Forbes - The Metaphysics of Modality 6.1
	A reaction: Not sure about this. I have long suspected what McGinn suspects. Once you have identified the organism with a particular origin, it hardly seems surprising that this particular origin has become inescapable.