The Barest Flutter of the Smallest Leaf: Understanding Material Plenitude

Philosophical Review 128 (2):143-178 (2019)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

According to material plenitude, every material object coincides with an abundance of other material objects that differ in the properties they have essentially and accidentally. Although this kind of plenitude is becoming increasingly popular, it isn't clear how to make sense of the view beyond its slogan form. As I argue, it turns out to be extraordinarily difficult to do so: straightforward attempts are either inconsistent or fail to capture the target idea. Making progress requires us to engage in more delicate metaphysics than we might have expected and, along the way, reveals substantive constraints on the material world. In this article, I argue that any attempt to develop a coherent version of plenitude is subject to two under-appreciated challenges, and I develop a version of plenitude (global plenitude) capable of overcoming both.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,322

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

How to save Aristotle from modal collapse.Derek von Barandy - 2013 - Studia Neoaristotelica 10 (1):89-98.
Neo-Aristotelian Plenitude.Ross Inman - 2014 - Philosophical Studies 168 (3):583-597.
A Paradox of Matter and Form.Maegan Fairchild - 2017 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 6 (1):33-42.
Plenitude of Possible Structures.Phillip Bricker - 1991 - Journal of Philosophy 88 (11):607-619.
Allometry and geometry ofbegonia leaves.Bernard Jeune & Denis Barabé - 1995 - Acta Biotheoretica 43 (3):205-215.
Atrial Flutter: Advances in Mechanisms and Management.Morton F. Arnsdorf - 1997 - Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 40 (4):619.
A plenitude of powers.Barbara Vetter - 2018 - Synthese 198 (Suppl 6):1365-1385.
The problem of material origins.David Barnett - 2005 - Noûs 39 (3):529–540.

Analytics

Added to PP
2019-06-12

Downloads
766 (#19,567)

6 months
60 (#70,987)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Maegan Fairchild
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Citations of this work

Ordinary objects.Daniel Z. Korman - 2011 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
How to Be a Spacetime Substantivalist.Trevor Teitel - 2022 - Journal of Philosophy 119 (5):233-278.
Material constitution.Ryan Wasserman - 2010 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Essence and Necessity.Andreas Ditter - 2022 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 51 (3):653-690.
Ontology and Arbitrariness.David Builes - 2022 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 100 (3):485-495.

View all 22 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Essence and modality.Kit Fine - 1994 - Philosophical Perspectives 8 (Logic and Language):1-16.
Four Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time.Theodore Sider - 2004 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 68 (3):642-647.
Material Beings.Peter Van Inwagen - 1990 - Philosophy 67 (259):126-127.
Things and Their Parts.Kit Fine - 1999 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 23 (1):61-74.

View all 18 references / Add more references