Substance and the fundamentality of the familiar: a neo-Aristotelian mereology PDF
Preview Substance and the fundamentality of the familiar: a neo-Aristotelian mereology
Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar explicates and defends a novel neo-Aristotelian account of the structure of material objects. While there have been numerous treatments of properties, laws, causation, and modality in the neo-Aristotelian metaphysics literature, this book is one of the first full-length treatments of wholes and their parts. Another aim of thebookistofurtherdevelopthenewlyrevivedareaconcerningthequestion offundamentalmereology,thequestionofwhetherwholesaremetaphysically prior to their parts or vice versa. Inman develops a fundamental mereology with a grounding-based conception of the structure and unity of substances at its core, what he calls Substantial Priority, one that distinctively allows for the fundamentality of ordinary, medium-sized composite objects. He offers both empirical and philosophical considerations against the view that the parts of every composite object are metaphysically prior, in particular the view that ascribes ontological pride of place to the smallest microphysical parts of composite objects, which currently dominates debates in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind. Ultimately, he demonstrates that Substantial Priority is well motivated in virtue of its offering a unified solution to a host of metaphysical problems involving material objects. Ross D. Inman is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Southwestern Baptist TheologicalSeminary,USA.HeisaformerResearchFellowattheUniversity ofNotreDame,CenterforPhilosophyofReligionandSaintLouisUniversity. Hewasawardedthe2014MarcSandersPrizeinPhilosophyofReligion.His researchhasappearedinPhilosophicalStudies,OxfordStudiesinPhilosophy of Religion, Metaphysica, and Philosophia Christi. Routledge Studies in Metaphysics For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com 1 The Semantics and Metaphysics of Natural Kinds Edited by Helen Beebee and Nigel Sabbarton-Leary 2 The Metaphysics of Powers Their Grounding and their Manifestations Edited by Anna Marmodoro 3 Freedom of the Will A Conditional Analysis Ferenc Huoranski 4 The Future of the Philosophy of Time Edited by Adrian Bardon 5 Properties, Powers and Structures Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism Edited by Alexander Bird, Brian Ellis, and Howard Sankey 6 The Puzzle of Existence Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing? Edited by Tyron Goldschmidt 7 Neo-Davidsonian Metaphysics From the True to the Good Samuel C. Wheeler III 8 Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives in Metaphysics Edited by Daniel D. Novotny´ and Luka´sˇ Nova´k 9 Nominalism about Properties New Essays Edited by Ghislain Guigon and Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra 10 Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar A Neo-Aristotelian Mereology Ross D. Inman Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar A Neo-Aristotelian Mereology Ross D. Inman Firstpublished2018 byRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 andbyRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninforma business 2018Taylor&Francis TherightofRossD.Inmantobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhas beenassertedbyhiminaccordancewithsections77and78ofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,or othermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,including photocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageor retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. TrademarkNotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationand explanationwithoutintenttoinfringe. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested ISBN:978-1-138-06559-8(hbk) ISBN:978-1-315-15960-7(ebk) TypesetinSabon byApexCoVantage,LLC To Suzanne, my love, whose “beauty awakens the soul to act.” —Dante Alighieri Contents List of figure ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 1 Serious Essentialism 11 2 Grounding and Essence 53 3 Fundamental Mereology and the Priority of Substance 75 4 Against Part-Priority 115 5 Substantial Priority: Cats, Statues, and Lumps 159 6 Substantial Priority: Vagueness, the Many, and Overdetermination 183 7 Getting Personal: Substantial Priority and Personal Ontology 203 8 Substantial Priority: Counting the Cost 231 9 Substantial Priority and Empirical Inadequacy 257 Conclusion 279 Bibliography 283 Index 301 Figure 3.1 Three-Atom Model 87
The list of books you might like
