Lehrende: Dr. Roberto Loss
Veranstaltungsart: Hauptseminar
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Semesterwochenstunden: 2
Credits: 4,0
Unterrichtssprache: Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: 1 | 25
Kontingentschema: Phil_Standard_WS1415
Weitere Informationen: Für den erfolgreichen Besuch dieser Veranstaltung im Rahmen des Fachspezifischen Wahbereichs werden 4 LP angerechnet.
Kommentare/ Inhalte: There appears to be an intimate relation between a composite object (like, say, a chair) and its parts: a chair can only be located in a place if its parts are; similarly, you cannot move the chair without moving its parts, et cetera. According to the thesis known as 'Composition as Identity' (or 'CAI' for short) the kind of relation holding between a whole and its parts is a relation of identity. Paraphrasing David Lewis (who famously came only close to CAI without ever fully embracing it): the whole just is the parts; the parts (taken together) just are the whole. In this seminar we will critically examine the recent debate on CAI and discuss various arguments for and against it. In particular, we will focus on the following issues: (i) the distinction between 'moderate' and 'strong' versions of CAI; (ii) in what sense, if any, something can be said to be both 'one' and 'many'; (iii) the problems related to the so-called 'Collapse Principle'; (iv) the question about whether CAI settles Peter van Inwagen's 'Special Composition Question' ('When does a plurality of objects compose a further object?), and in particular, the question about whether CAI entails either 'mereological universalism' ('Every plurality of entities compose a further object') or 'mereological nihilism' ('Every object is atomic and has no (proper) parts').
Literatur: wird zu Veranstaltungsbeginn bekannt gegeben
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