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Part 2 Tools of Ontology: Mereology, Topology, Dependence
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Ontological Dependence
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How to link together the domain of substances and the domain of moments?
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Ontological Dependence Substances are that which can exist on their own Moments require a support from substances in order to exist
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Specific Dependence O := overlap x := x is necessarily such that E! := existence SD(x, y) := O(x, y) x (E!x E!y)
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Mutual specific dependence A moment of visual extension is mutually dependent on a moment of color The north pole of a magnet is mutually dependent on the south pole MSD(x, y) := SD(x, y) SD(y, x)
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One-Sided Specific Dependence OSD(x, y) := SD(x, y) MSD(x, y) My headache is one-sidedly specifically dependent on me.
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Substances and Moments Substances are the bearers or carriers of moments, … moments are said to ‘inhere’ in their substances
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Ontological Dependence Substances are such that, while remaining numerically one and the same, they can admit contrary moments at different times … I am sometimes hungry, sometimes not
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Substances can also gain and lose parts … as an organism may gain and lose molecules
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Types of relations between parts 1. Dependence relations 2. Side-by-sideness relations 3. Fusion relations
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Dependence cannot exist without a thinker a thought moment substance
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Theory of vagueness Side-by-sideness found among both substances and moments
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Fusion Topology
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Topology, like mereology, applies both in the realm of substances and in the realm of moments
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Mereotopology = topology on a mereological basis
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Substances, Undetached Parts and Heaps Substances are unities. They enjoy a natural completeness in contrast to their undetached parts (arms, legs) and to heaps or aggregates … these are topological distinctions
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substance undetached part collective of substances
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special sorts of undetached parts ulcers tumors lesions …
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Fiat boundaries physical (bona fide) boundary fiat boundary
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Examples of bona fide boundaries: an animal’s skin, the surface of the planet of fiat boundaries: the boundaries of postal districts and census tracts
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Mountain bona fide upper boundaries with a fiat base:
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Architects Plan for a House fiat upper boundaries with a bona fide base:
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where does the mountain start ?... a mountain is not a substance
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nose...and it’s not a moment, either
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A substance has a complete physical boundary The latter is a special sort of part of a substance … a boundary part something like a maximally thin extremal slice
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interior substance boundary
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A substance takes up space. A substance occupies a place or topoid (which enjoys an analogous completeness or rounded-offness) A substance enjoys a place at a time
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A substance has spatial parts … perhaps also holes
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Each substance is such as to have divisible bulk: it can in principle be divided into separate spatially extended substances
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By virtue of their divisible bulk substances compete for space: (unlike shadows and holes) no two substances can occupy the same spatial region at the same time.
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Substances vs. Collectives Collectives = unified aggregates: families, jazz bands, empires Collectives are real constituents of reality (contra sets) but still they are not additional constituents, over and above the substances which are their parts.
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Collectives inherit some, but not all, of the ontological marks of substances They can admit contrary moments at different times.
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Collectives, like substances, may gain and lose parts or members may undergo other sorts of changes through time.
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Moments, too, may form collectives a musical chord is a collective of individual tones football matches, wars, plagues are collectives of actions involving human beings
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One-place moments depend on one substance (as a headache depends upon a head)
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Relational moments John Mary kiss stand in relations of one-sided dependence to a plurality of substances simultaneously
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Examples of relational moments kisses, thumps, conversations, dances, legal systems Such relational moments join their carriers together into collectives of greater or lesser duration
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Mereology ‘Entity’ = absolutely general ontological term of art embracing at least: all substances, moments, and all the wholes and parts thereof, including boundaries
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Totality of entities = domain of our variables but this domain falls into: 1. the 4-D domain of processes 2. the successive time-stamped 3- D domains of: substances plus sections through processes
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Primitive notion of part ‘x is part of y’ in symbols: ‘x ≤ y’
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We define overlap as the sharing of common parts: O(x, y) := z(z ≤ x z ≤ y)
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Axioms for basic mereology AM1 x ≤ x AM2x ≤ y y ≤ x x = y AM3x ≤ y y ≤ z x ≤ z Parthood is a reflexive, antisymmetric, and transitive relation, a partial ordering.
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Extensionality AM4 z(z ≤ x O(z, y)) x ≤ y If every part of x overlaps with y then x is part of y cf. status and bronze
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Sum AM5 x( x) y( z(O(y,z) x( x O(x,z)))) For every satisfied property or condition there exists an entity, the sum of all the -ers
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The sum axiom holds unrestrictedly, once the range of variables has been fixed either to the 4-D ontology or to one or other of the time- stamped 3-D ontologies
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Definition of Sum x( x) := y z(O(y,z) x( x O(x,z))) The sum of all the -ers is that entity which overlaps with z if and only if there is some - er which overlaps with z
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Examples of sums In the 4-D ontology: electricity, Christianity, your body’s metabolism In the 3-D ontology: the Beatles, the Gewandhausorchester, the species cat
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Other Boolean Relations x y := z(z ≤ x z ≤ y) binary sum x y := z(z ≤ x z ≤ y)product
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Other Boolean Relations x – y := z (z ≤ x O(z, y)) difference –x := z ( O(z, x)) complement
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What is a Substance? Bundle theories: a substance is a whole made up of moments as parts. What holds the moments together?... problem of unity
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Topology How can we transform a sheet of rubber in ways which do not involve cutting or tearing?
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Topology We can invert it, stretch or compress it, move it, bend it, twist it. Certain properties will be invariant under such transformations – ‘topological spatial properties’
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Topology Such properties will fail to be invariant under transformations which involve cutting or tearing or gluing together of parts or the drilling of holes
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Examples of topological spatial properties The property of being a (single, connected) body The property of possessing holes (tunnels, internal cavities) The property of being a heap The property of being an undetached part of a body
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Examples of topological spatial properties It is a topological spatial property of a pack of playing cards that it consists of this or that number of separate cards It is a topological spatial property of my arm that it is connected to my body.
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Topological Properties Analogous topological properties are manifested also in the temporal realm: they are those properties of temporal structures which are invariant under transformations of slowing down, speeding up, temporal translocation …
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Topological Properties
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Topology and Boundaries Open set: (0, 1) Closed set: [0, 1] Open object: Closed object:
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Closure = an operation which when applied to an entity x yields a whole which comprehends both x and its boundaries use notion of closure to understand structure of reality in an operation-free way
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Axioms for Closure AC1: each entity is part of its closure AC2: the closure of the closure adds nothing to the closure of an object AC3: the closure of the sum of two objects is equal to the sum of their closures
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Axioms for Closure AC1x ≤ c(x) expansiveness AC2 c(c(x)) ≤ c(x) idempotence AC3 c(x y) = c(x) c(y) additivity
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Axioms for Closure These axioms define in mereological terms a well-known kind of structure, that of a closure algebra, which is the algebraic equivalent of the simplest kind of topological space.
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Boundary b(x) := c(x) c(–x) The boundary of an entity is also the boundary of the complement of the entity
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Interior i(x) := x – b(x) boundary interior x
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An entity and its complement -x x
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The entity alone x
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The complement alone -x
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Closed and Open Objects x is closed := x is identical with its closure x is open := x is identical with its interior The complement of a closed object is open The complement of an open object is closed Some objects are partly open and partly closed
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Definining Topology Topological transformations = transformations which take open objects to open objects e.g. moving, shrinking x
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Closed Objects A closed object is an independent constituent of reality: It is an object which exists on its own, without the need for any other object which would serve as its host
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Contrast holes a hole requires a host
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A closed object need not be connected
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…. nor must it be free of holes
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…. or slits
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Connectedness Definition An object is connected if we can proceed from any part of the object to any other and remain within the confines of the object itself
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Connectedness A connected object is such that all ways of splitting the object into two parts yield parts whose closures overlap Cn(x) := yz(x = y z w(w ≤ (c(y) c(z))))
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Connectedness* A connected* object is such that, given any way of splitting the object into two parts x and y, either x overlaps with the closure of y or y overlaps with the closure of x Cn*(x) := yz(x = y z ( w(w ≤ x w ≤ c(y)) w(w ≤ y w ≤ c(x)))
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Problems
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Problem A whole made up of two adjacent spheres which are momentarily in contact with each other will satisfy either condition of connectedness Strong connectedness rules out cases such as this
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Strong connectedness Scn(x) := Cn*(i(x)) An object is strongly connected if its interior is connected*
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Definition of Substance A substance is a maximally strongly connected non-dependent entity: S(x) := Scn(x) y(x ≤ y Scn(y) x = y) zSD(x, z)
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More needed Substances are located in spatial regions
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More needed Some substances have a causal integrity without being completely disconnected from other substances: heart lung Siamese twin
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Time Substances can preserve their numerical identity over time Full treatment needs an account of: spatial location transtemporal identity causal integrity, matter internal organization
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