Mereology without weak supplementation

Australasian Journal of Philosophy 87 (3):505 – 511 (2009)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

According to the Weak Supplementation Principle (WSP)—a widely received principle of mereology—an object with a proper part, p , has another distinct proper part that doesn't overlap p . In a recent article in this journal, Nikk Effingham and Jon Robson employ WSP in an objection to endurantism. I defend endurantism in a way that bears on mereology in general. First, I argue that denying WSP can be motivated apart from the truth of endurantism. I then go on to offer an explanation of WSP's initial appeal, argue that denying WSP fails to have untoward consequences for the rest of mereology, and show that the falsity of WSP is consistent with a primary guiding thought behind it.

Similar books and articles

Mereological Explanation and Time Travel.Nikk Effingham - 2010 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 88 (2):333-345.
Non-wellfounded Mereology.Aaron J. Cotnoir & Andrew Bacon - 2012 - Review of Symbolic Logic 5 (2):187-204.
Mereology and modality.Gabriel Uzquiano - 2014 - In Shieva Kleinschmidt (ed.), Mereology and Location. Oxford University Press. pp. 33-56.
Medieval mereology.Desmond Paul Henry - 1991 - Philadelphia: B.R. Grüner.
Using mereological principles to support metaphysics.Maureen Donnelly - 2011 - Philosophical Quarterly 61 (243):225-246.

Analytics

Added to PP
2010-05-07

Downloads
226 (#65,998)

6 months
67 (#26,893)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Donald Smith
Virginia Commonwealth University

Citations of this work

Mereology.Achille C. Varzi - 2016 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Location and Mereology.Cody Gilmore - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Mereological Nihilism and Theoretical Unification.Andrew Brenner - 2015 - Analytic Philosophy 56 (4):318-337.
Non-wellfounded Mereology.Aaron J. Cotnoir & Andrew Bacon - 2012 - Review of Symbolic Logic 5 (2):187-204.

View all 30 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Parts: a study in ontology.Peter Simons - 1987 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Material Constitution: A Reader.Michael Cannon Rea (ed.) - 1997 - Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Parts: A Study in Ontology.Peter Simons - 1988 - Mind 97 (388):638-640.
Parts. A Study in Ontology.Peter Simons - 1989 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 179 (1):131-132.

View all 7 references / Add more references