Single Idea 14590

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / a. Scattered objects]

Full Idea

In being willing to countenance archipelagos, one embraces scattered objects. Why not then embrace the 'archipelago' of my car and the Eiffel Tower?

Clarification

An archipelago is a group of islands

Gist of Idea

If we accept scattered objects such as archipelagos, why not think of cars that way?

Source

John Hawthorne (Three-Dimensionalism v Four-Dimensionalism [2008], 2.1)

Book Reference

'Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics', ed/tr. Sider/Hawthorne/Zimmerman [Blackwell 2008], p.270


A Reaction

This is a beautifully simple and striking point. Language is full of embracing terms like 'the furniture', but that doesn't mean we assume the furniture is unified. The archipelago is less of an 'object' if you live on one of the islands.