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Logic and Logical Philosophy

Composition, identity, and emergence
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  3. Vol. 25 No. 3 (2016): September /
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Composition, identity, and emergence

Authors

  • Claudio Calosi University of Neuchâtel

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/LLP.2016.010

Keywords

, composition as identity, emergence, mereological nihilism

Abstract

Composition as Identity (CAI) is the thesis that a whole is, strictly and literally, identical to its parts, considered collectively. McDaniel [2008] argues against CAI in that it prohibits emergent properties. Recently Sider [2014] exploited the resources of plural logic and extensional mereology to undermine McDaniel’s argument. He shows that CAI identifies extensionally equivalent pluralities – he calls it the Collapse Principle (CP) – and then shows how this identification rescues CAI from the emergentist argument. In this paper I first give a new generalized version of both the arguments. It is more general in that it does not presuppose an atomistic mereology. I then go on to argue that the consequences of CP are rather radical. It entails mereological nihilism, the view that there are only mereological atoms. I finally show that, given a mild assumption about property instantiation, namely that there are no un-instantiated properties, this argument entails that CAI and emergent properties are incompatible after all.

Author Biography

Claudio Calosi, University of Neuchâtel

Institute of Philosophy

References

Armstrong, D., 1978, A Theory of Universals: Universals and Scientific Realism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Baxter, B., and A. Cotnoir (eds.), 2014, Composition as Identity, Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669615.001.0001

Bohn, E., 2012, “Monism, emergence and plural logic”, Erkenntnis, 76, 2: 211–223. DOI: 10.1007/s10670-011-9280-4

Bohn, E., 2014, “Unrestricted composition as identity”, pages 143–165 in [Baxter and Cotnoir, 2014] DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669615.003.0008

Boolos, G., 1984, “To be is to be the value of a variable (or to be some values of some variables)”, Journal of Philosophy, 81, 8: 430–449. DOI: 10.2307/2026308

Cotnoir, A., 2013, “Composition as general identity”, Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, 8: 294–322. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199682904.003.0007

Cotnoir, A., 2014, “Composition as identity. Framing the debate”, pages 3–23 in [Baxter and Cotnoir, 2014]. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669615.001.0001

Gruszczyński, R., and A. Pietruszczak, 2014, “The relations of supremum and mereological sum in partially ordered sets”, pages 123–140 in Mereology and the Sciences, C. Calosi and P. Graziani (eds.), Amsterdam, Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-05356-1_6

Hovda, P., 2009, “What is classical mereology?”, Journal of Philosophical Logic, 38: 55–82. DOI: 10.1007/s10992-008-9092-4

Hovda, P., 2014, “Logical considerations on composition as identity”, pages 192–210 in [Baxter and Cotnoir, 2014]. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669615.003.0010

Lewis, D., 1986, On the Plurality of Worlds, Oxford, Blackwell.

Lewis, D., 1991, Parts of Classes, Oxford, Blackwell.

McDaniel, K., 2008, “Against composition as identity”, Analysis, 68, 2: 128–133. DOI: 10.1093/analys/68.2.128

McKay, T.J., 2006, Plural Predication, Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199278145.001.0001

McLaughlin, B., and K. Bennett, 2014, “Supervenience”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), E.N. Zalta (ed.) http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/supervenience/

Sider, T., “Parthood”, 2007, Philosophical Review, 116: 51–91. DOI: 10.1215/00318108-2006-022

Sider, T., 2014, “Consequences of collapse”, pages 211–221 in [Baxter and Cotnoir, 2014]. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669615.003.0011

Simons, P., 1987, Parts. A Study in Ontology, Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Van Inwagen, P., 1994, “Composition as identity”, pages 207–220 in Philosophical Perspectives, J.E. Tomberlin (ed.), vol. 8 of “Logic and Language”, Ridgeview, Atascadero. DOI: 10.2307/2214171

Van Inwagen, P., 2006, “Can mereological sums change their parts?”, The Journal of Philosophy CIII, 12: 614–630. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781107111004.013

Van Inwagen, P., 1990, Material Beings, Ithaca, Cornell University Press.

Varzi, A., 2016, “Mereology”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016 Edition), E.N. Zalta (ed.). http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/mereology/

Varzi, A., 2014, “Formal theories of parthood”, page 359–370 in Mereology and the Sciences, C. Calosi and P. Graziani (eds.), Amsterdam, Springer.

Wallace, M., 2011, “Composition as identity. Part 1”, Philosophy Compass, 6/11: 804–816. DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00431.x

Yi, B., 1999, “Is mereology ontologically innocent?”, Philosophical Studies, 93, 2: 141–160. DOI: 10.1023/A:1004274912342

Logic and Logical Philosophy

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Published

2016-05-27

How to Cite

1.
CALOSI, Claudio. Composition, identity, and emergence. Logic and Logical Philosophy [online]. 27 May 2016, T. 25, nr 3, s. 429–443. [accessed 23.3.2023]. DOI 10.12775/LLP.2016.010.
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