T-Gunk and Exact Occupation

American Philosophical Quarterly 49 (2):165-174 (2012)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

An object is T-gunky just in case all its parts (i) have proper parts and (ii) are of non-zero measure in every spatial dimension. I show that a recent argument due to Hud Hudson—though not intended as a threat to gunk—bears on the possibility of T-gunky material objects in non-gunky space. I then show that the friend of T-gunk can circumvent Hudson’s argument without abandoning pointy space or standard mereology. What is needed is a novel conception of the relation of exact occupation of pointy regions by T-gunky objects. With the new conception in hand, the friend of material T-gunk need not look to theories of gunky spacetime in order to reconcile the possibility of material gunk with mathematical physics.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,783

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

A Gunk-Friendly MaxCon.Gregory Fowler - 2008 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 86 (4):611 – 627.
Chopping Up Gunk.John Hawthorne & Brian Weatherson - 2004 - The Monist 87 (3):339-50.
Illusions of gunk.J. Robert G. Williams - 2006 - Philosophical Perspectives 20 (1):493–513.
Sider, Hawley, Sider and the Vagueness Argument.Nikk Effingham - 2011 - Philosophical Studies 154 (2):241 - 250.
Identity, Quantification, and Number.Eric T. Olson - 2012 - In T. Tahko (ed.), Contemporary Aristotelian Metaphysics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 66-82.
Gunk, Topology and Measure.Frank Arntzenius - 2004 - In Dean Zimmerman (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics: Volume 4. Oxford University Press.
Simples and gunk.Hud Hudson - 2007 - Philosophy Compass 2 (2):291–302.
Mereological Harmony.Gabriel Uzquiano - 2008 - In Dean W. Zimmerman (ed.), Oxford Studies in Metaphysics. Oxford University Press.
Stoic Gunk.Daniel P. Nolan - 2006 - Phronesis 51 (2):162-183.
Van Inwagen and the Possibility of Gunk.Theodore Sider - 1993 - Analysis 53 (4):285 - 289.

Analytics

Added to PP
2012-04-07

Downloads
251 (#80,540)

6 months
10 (#265,304)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Daniel Giberman
University of Gothenburg

Citations of this work

Location and Mereology.Cody Gilmore, Claudio Calosi & Damiano Costa - 2013 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
“Tropes in Space.Daniel Giberman - 2014 - Philosophical Studies 167 (2):453-472.
A topological theory of fundamental concrete particulars.Daniel Giberman - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (10):2679-2704.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Parts: a study in ontology.Peter M. Simons - 1987 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Parts of Classes.David K. Lewis - 1991 - Mind 100 (3):394-397.
Is there a fundamental level?Jonathan Schaffer - 2003 - Noûs 37 (3):498–517.
A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person.Hud Hudson - 2001 - Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
Parts. A Study in Ontology.Peter Simons - 1989 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 179 (1):131-132.

View all 22 references / Add more references