Overview

Composition is the relation between a whole and its parts--the parts are said to compose the whole; the whole is composed of the parts. But is a whole anything distinct from its parts taken collectively? It is often said that 'a whole is nothing over and above its parts'; but what might we mean by that? Could it be that a whole just is its parts?This collection of essays is the first of its kind to focus on the relationship between composition and identity. Twelve original articles--written by internationally renowned scholars and rising stars in the field--argue for and against the controversial doctrine that composition is identity. An editor's introduction sets out the formal and philosophical groundwork to bring readers to the forefront of the debate.

Full Product Details

Author:   A. J. Cotnoir (University of St Andrews) ,  Donald L. M. Baxter (University of Connecticut)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 16.30cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.90cm
Weight:   0.558kg
ISBN:  

9780199669615

ISBN 10:   0199669619
Pages:   270
Publication Date:   07 August 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors Part I: Introduction and history 1: A. J. Cotnoir: Composition As Identity: Framing The Debate 2: Calvin G. Normore & Deborah J. Brown: On Bits and Pieces in the History of Philosophy Part II: Ontological commitments of CAI 3: Achille C. Varzi: Counting and Countenancing 4: Katherine Hawley: Ontological Innocence 5: Ross P. Cameron: Parts Generate The Whole, But They Are Not Identical To It Part III: Metaphysical commitments of CAI 6: Meg Wallace: Composition As Identity, Mereological Essentialism, and Modal Parts 7: Kris McDaniel: Compositional Pluralism and Composition As Identity 8: Einar Duenger Bohn: Unrestricted Composition As Identity Part IV: Logical commitments of CAI 9: Byeong-Uk Yi: Is There A Plural Object? 10: Paul Hovda: Logical Considerations On Composition As Identity 11: Theodore Sider: Consequences Of Collapse Part V: Indiscernibility and CAI 12: Jason Turner: Donald Baxter's Composition As Identity 13: Donald L. M. Baxter: Identity, Discernibility, and Composition Index

Reviews

The papers in the collection provide a valuable contribution to the literature on CAI. The editors have succeeded in covering the central issues related to CAI, and taken together they are an example of a fruitful exchange between formal and philosophical theories. This collection will be of interest to those working on CAI, mereology more broadly, as well as philosophical uses of plural logic. Cameron Gibbs, Philosophy in Review.

Author Information

A. J. Cotnoir is a Lecturer in the Department of Logic and Metaphysics at the University of St Andrews, member of the Arché Philosophical Research Center, and an Associate Fellow of the Northern Institute of Philosophy. He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Connecticut in 2010. He works primarily in Metaphysics and Philosophical Logic. ; Donald L. M. Baxter is Professor and Head of the Philosophy Department at the University of Connecticut. He received his Ph.D. in 1984 from the University of Pittsburgh and first taught at Princeton University. He works mainly in Metaphysics and in Early Modern Western Philosophy. His monograph, Hume's Difficulty: Time and Identity in the Treatise, was published by Routledge in 2008.

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