Extensionality for Fusions and Pluralities

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 08-2021
Journal Synthese
Volume | Issue number 198 | Supplement issue 18
Pages (from-to) 4355-4374
Number of pages 20
Organisations
  • Interfacultary Research - Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC)
Abstract
One of the more persistent debates in mereology is whether distinct wholes can have the same parts. Extensional mereologists hold that if there is no part that makes the difference, then there is nothing to distinguish the wholes, so sameness of parts implies identity. Non-extensionalists, however, do think there are cases where distinct wholes share all their parts. This paper argues that the kind of argument non-extensionalists employ can also be levelled against a widely accepted extensionality principle of plural logic. Non-extensionalists thus face a dilemma: either give up the argument for non-extensional mereology, or deny both the extensionality principle of mereology and the analogous principle for plural logic.
Document type Article
Note In Special Issue on Mereology and Identity
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-02003-w
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