Full Idea
The so-called 'laws of thinghood' govern particulars, saying that one thing cannot be wholly present at different places at the same time, and two things cannot occupy the same place at the same time.
Gist of Idea
A 'thing' cannot be in two places at once, and two things cannot be in the same place at once
Source
Cynthia Macdonald (Varieties of Things [2005], Ch.6)
Book Reference
Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.237
A Reaction
Is this an empirical observation, or a tautology? Or might it even be a priori synthetic? What happens when two water drops or clouds merge? Or an amoeba fissions? In what sense is an image in two places at once? Se also Idea 2351.
Related Idea
Idea 2351 Aristotle says an object (e.g. a lamp) has identity if its parts stay together when it is moved [Putnam]