Parts of singletons

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

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.

Other Versions

No versions found

Similar books and articles

Lewis on Mereology and Set Theory.John P. Burgess - 2015 - In Barry Loewer & Jonathan Schaffer, A companion to David Lewis. Chichester, West Sussex ;: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 459–469.
Mathematics is megethology.David K. Lewis - 1993 - Philosophia Mathematica 1 (1):3-23.
Are Subclasses Parts of Classes?Alex Oliver - 1994 - Analysis 54 (4):215 - 223.
Parts of Classes. [REVIEW]Jose A. Benardete - 1992 - Review of Metaphysics 45 (3):620-621.
Critical Notice: David Lewis's Parts of Classes.M. D. Potter - 1993 - Philosophical Quarterly 43 (172).
Classes are states of affairs.D. M. Armstrong - 1991 - Mind 100 (2):189-200.
Notes on the Mereology of Classes.Joshua Phillip Finkler - 2000 - Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Meghetologia.Massimiliano Carrara & Filippo Mancini - 2020 - Aphex. Portale Italiano di Filosofia Analitica 21 (1):1-49.

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-04-01

Downloads
1,325 (#34,862)

6 months
230 (#43,411)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Ben Caplan
Ohio State University
Patrick Reeder
Independent Scholar
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.

View all 24 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

P. - 2008 - In Nicholas Bunnin & Jiyuan Yu, The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 500-579.
Survival and identity.David Lewis - 1976 - In Amélie Oksenberg Rorty, 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 Thomson - 1983 - Journal of Philosophy 80 (4):201-220.
The statue and the clay.Judith Jarvis Thomson - 1998 - Noûs 32 (2):149-173.

View all 16 references / Add more references