Handbook of Mereology Total
Simons, P., 1987. Part I is a standard The notion of structure is of central im- reference for extensional mereology. portance to mereology (for the following Parts II and III treat further topics and see also Koslicki 2008, ch. IX). Histori- question some assumptions of extension- cal contributions had this clearly in view; ality. Has an extensive bibliography. for example, as is brought out in Harte 2002, Plato in numerous dialogues grap- ples with the question of how a whole References and further readings which has many parts can nevertheless be a single unified object and ultimately Cartwright, R., 1975, “Scattered Ob- endorses a structure-based response to jects”, as reprinted in his Philosophical this question (see Plato). Wholes, ac- Essays, 1987, Cambridge, MIT Press: cording to Plato’s mature views (as de- 171-86. veloped primarily in the Sophist, Par- Lewis, D., 1991, Parts of Classes, Ox- menides, Philebus and Timaeus), have a ford: Blackwell. dichotomous nature, consisting of both material as well as structural compo- Sanford, D. H., 2003, “Fusion Confu- nents; it is the job of structure to unify sion”, Analysis 63: 1-4. and organize the plurality of material Sanford, D. H., 2011, “Can a sum change parts that are present in a unified whole. its parts?”, Analysis 71: 235-9. A similar conception is taken up and worked out further by Aristotle who Simons, P., 1987, Parts: A Study in On- famously believed that ordinary material tology, Oxford: Clarendon Press. objects, such as houses, are compounds Tarski, A., 1929, “Foundations of the of matter (viz., the bricks, wood, etc.) Geometry of Solids” as reprinted in his and form (viz., the arrangement exhibited Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics, by the material components for the pur- Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959: pose of providing shelter).
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