Single Idea 7936

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / a. Substance]

Full Idea

Substances have a kind of unity that mere collocations of properties do not have, namely an instrinsic unity. So substances cannot be collocations - bundles - of properties.

Clarification

Things are 'collocated' if they are pulled together

Gist of Idea

Unlike bundles of properties, substances have an intrinsic unity

Source

Cynthia Macdonald (Varieties of Things [2005], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.91


A Reaction

A team is a unity. Compare a similar thought, Idea 1395, about personal identity. How can something which is a pure unity have more than one property? What distinguishes substances? Why can't a substance have a certain property?

Related Idea

Idea 1395 Why would a thought be a member of one bundle rather than another? [Carruthers]