Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Sum, mereological: mereology is the theory that examines the relationship of parts and totals. A mereological sum is not identical with a whole; it can be formed from parts of different individuals. According to P. Simons (Simons, “Parts. A Study in Ontology”, Oxford, 1987, p. 3), a mereological sum results from the idea of a family of objects that are maximally connected under a particular relation. This definition does not always coincide with the smallest upper bound. (Simons, p. 12). See also complexes, whole, totality, parts, part-of-relation, mereology, barrier._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Peter M. Simons on Sum, mereological - Dictionary of Arguments
I 111 Sum/mereology/Simons: assuming we consider arbitrary portions of space-time as evidenced by any sums, then it is about the question whether the relevant predicates are cumulative. >Predicates, >Predication, >Mereology. Def cumulative predicate: if a sum exists, then the predicate that applies to it, also applies on the whole (whole unequal sum). E.g. mass terms can form any sums. Non-cumulative: e.g. "is a human". The sum can even occupy the same space-time as the corresponding individual, without being identical with it. >Individuals, >Spacetime. I 113 Sum/mereology: a sum only exists because its parts exist. I 266 Sum/identity conditions/Simons: sums have no autonomous identity conditions, e.g. the sum of Tib + Tail is not identical with the cat Tibbles, although it may never lose its tail. >Tibbles-example, >Identiy conditions. The modal property of the "could-get-lost" is critical. There is non-identity despite coincidence. I 291 Sum/mereology/Simons: there are even sums across to the categories (mixed-categorical sums): e.g. a body and the events that happened to it ((s) i.e. its life story.) >Mixed-categorical. I 354 Sum/mereology/Simons: for the sum, structure does not matter. >Structures._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Simons I P. Simons Parts. A Study in Ontology Oxford New York 1987 |
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