Summary |
The topics of simples and gunk concern the composition of material objects -- in particular, their smallest parts. An object is gunky if and only if all its parts have proper parts. A mereological simple is an object that has no proper parts. Clearly no object can be gunky and have a mereological simple as a part, though there is a question whether some objects might have some gunky parts and some non-gunky parts. A further question concerns the nature of, or necessary and sufficient conditions for being, a mereological simple. Some say mereological simples must be unextended objects, while others offer criteria that at least allow for extended simples. |