Parthood Relations, Integral Wholes, and Mereotopology

 

Abstract

Mereology is often described as a theory of the part-whole relation (or relations), but of course it isn’t. It is simply a theory of parthood, as expressed by binary predicates such as “x is part of y”, with no presumption that the second term, y, qualifies as a “whole” in any substantive sense (e.g., as an integral, cohesive, unitary entity—what Aristotelians would call an “individual substance” and Husserlians a “pregnant whole”). Mereologically speaking, there is no difference between the sense in which a finger is part of a hand and the sense in which it is part of a whole human body. Indeed, mereologically the distinction between parts and wholes is entirely context-dependent: one thing is a part of a second if and only if the second is a whole for the first. In this talk, we examine some ways in which this limitation may be overcome by supplementing mereology with suitable topological notions, such as the relational predicate “x is connected to y”.

About the Speaker

Achille C. Varzi is the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, USA, and was elected a member of Academia Europaea in 2019. He has published extensively in logic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, and literature. His book Mereology, co-authored with Aaron J. Cotnoir, was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. He serves as an editor of The Journal of Philosophy and an editor for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, as well as an associate or advisory editor for several other philosophical journals and book series.