The Multi-location Trilemma

Erkenntnis 87 (3):1063-1079 (2020)
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Abstract

The possibility of multi-location—of one entity having more than one exact location—is required by several metaphysical theories such as the immanentist theory of universals and three-dimensionalism about persistence. One of the most pressing challenges for multi-location theorists is that of making sense of exact location—in that extant definitions of exact location entail a principle called ‘functionality’, according to which nothing can have more than one exact location. Recently in a number of promising papers, Antony Eagle has proposed and defended a definition of exact location in terms of weak location that does not entail functionality. This paper provides the first thorough assessment of Eagle’s proposal. In particular, we argue that it cannot account for the location of immanent universals, the multi-location of mereologically changing three-dimensional objects, the multi-location of mereologically complex objects, and that it makes extended simples impossible.

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Author Profiles

Claudio Calosi
University of Venice
Damiano Costa
Università della Svizzera Italiana

Citations of this work

Extended Simples, Unextended Complexes.Claudio Calosi - 2023 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 52 (2):643-668.
A General Theory of Location Based on the Notion of Entire Location.Fabrice Correia - 2022 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 51 (3):555-582.
There Are No Saints, Or: Quantum Multilocation.Claudio Calosi - forthcoming - Grazer Philosophische Studien:1-20.
The Love Argument for the Trinity: A Reformulation.Joshua Sijuwade - 2024 - TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology 9 (1):1-35.

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References found in this work

On the Plurality of Worlds.David K. Lewis - 1986 - Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell.
On the Plurality of Worlds.David Lewis - 1986 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 178 (3):388-390.
The Paradoxes of Time Travel.David Lewis - 1976 - American Philosophical Quarterly 13 (2):145-152.

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