Parts of singletons

Journal of Philosophy 107 (10):501-533 (2010)
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Abstract

In Parts of Classes and "Mathematics is Megethology" David Lewis shows how the ideology of set membership can be dispensed with in favor of parthood and plural quantification. Lewis's theory has it that singletons are mereologically simple and leaves the relationship between a thing and its singleton unexplained. We show how, by exploiting Kit Fine's mereology, we can resolve Lewis's mysteries about the singleton relation and vindicate the claim that a thing is a part of its singleton.

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Author Profiles

Patrick Reeder
Kenyon College
Chris Tillman
University of Manitoba

Citations of this work

Mereology.Achille C. Varzi - 2016 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Abstract Explanations in Science.Christopher Pincock - 2014 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (4):857-882.
A Modal Account of Essence.Michael De - 2020 - Metaphysics 3 (1):17-32.

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References found in this work

Survival and identity.David Lewis - 1976 - In Amelie Oksenberg Rorty (ed.), The Identities of Persons. University of California Press. pp. 17-40.
Things and Their Parts.Kit Fine - 1999 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 23 (1):61-74.
Parthood and identity across time.Judith Jarvis Thomson - 1983 - Journal of Philosophy 80 (4):201-220.
The statue and the clay.Judith Jarvis Thomson - 1998 - Noûs 32 (2):149-173.
Against structural universals.David K. Lewis - 1986 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 64 (1):25 – 46.

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