Becoming a Statue

Mooney, Justin

doi:10.1080/00048402.2021.1975787

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The phasalist can say, e.g., that the tree begins to be a trunk when it loses its branch, but they cannot say that the tree begins to be the particular trunk that was formerly a distinct proper part of it. 15 The phasalist solution to the statue puzzle is endorsed or at least suggested by Ayers (1974: 128); Jubien (2001: 6-7); Schwartz (2009: 613-615); Markosian (2010: 144); and Mooney (2021). Brown (2005: 99; see also 160-162) attributes a version of the phasalist solution to Aquinas.…”

Section: A Phasalist Approach To Undetached Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ordinary undetached parts

Mooney

2023

Synthese

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Undetached PartsHere's a puzzle that continues to tease metaphysicians. 1 Dion is a human being and Theon is his left-foot-complement, i.e., that proper part of Dion which is composed of the atoms that compose Dion except for those which overlap his left foot. We know that Dion is distinct from Theon, since they have different properties. For example, Dion has two feet but Theon has one. But suppose Dion's left foot is cut off and destroyed. Dion seems to survive this ordeal, since a person can survive losing a minor part such as a foot. Theon seems to survive too, since it would be strange for Theon to 1 The puzzle can be traced back as far as Philo of Alexandria and Chryssipus (Sedley 1982; Long & Sedley 1987: 171-172). A version of it also appears in William of Sherwood (1968: 60-61). Another instance of the problem was introduced to the literature by Wiggins (1968), who -perhaps mistakenly -took it to be a version of the puzzle due to Geach (1980: §110) which is now known as the problem of the many. 2 be destroyed by a mere extrinsic change, viz., ceasing to be attached to a foot. But with Dion's left foot gone, Dion and Theon are now in exactly the same place at exactly the same time, and they seem to be composed of all the same atoms. In short, they seem to be coincident. When numerically distinct objects are coincident, I will say that they are co-located. Since Dion and Theon are distinct, it follows that, if they are coincident, then they are also co-located. Unfortunately, the idea that material objects can be colocated does not sit well with common intuitions.This problem has spawned a wide array of creative and interesting solutions. 2 Simons (1987) observes that it "brings together a number of crucial ontological issues, and has elicited the most varied responses. It is almost a touchstone for finding out important facts about a philosopher's ontology" (118). One solution, which I will call the conservative solution, distinguishes between ordinary and extraordinary undetached parts.Ordinary undetached parts are parts which are recognized in folk metaphysics, and extraordinary undetached parts are parts which are not recognized in folk metaphysics. (I will have something to say about the vagueness of this distinction in Section 2.) The conservative solution claims that only ordinary undetached parts exist. 3 Theon's existence is then denied on the grounds that Theon is an extraordinary undetached part, not an ordinary one, and this dissolves the puzzle. After all, there is no reason to worry that Dion is coincident with Theon if Theon doesn't exist. An important objection to the conservative solution is that it doesn't generalize 2 Various solutions are defended by Wiggins (1968);

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Section: A Phasalist Approach To Undetached Partsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ordinary undetached parts

Mooney

2023

Synthese

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“…Some phasalists, including me, endorse accounts of identity under a sortal that can be put to work in cases like this one (Markosian, 2010, esp. p. 144; Mooney, 2021). But here, I wish to offer a novel suggestion.…”

Section: Too Much Change?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…17 This point has been made by, for example, Wiggins (2001, p. 64). 18 See Ayers (1974), Price (1977), and Mooney (2021Mooney ( , 2022.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Matter of Coincidence

Mooney

2023

Pacific Philosophical Qtr

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The phasalist solution to the puzzle of the statue and the piece of clay claims that being a statue is a phase sortal property of the piece of clay, just like being a child is a phase sortal property of a human being. Some philosophers reject this solution because it cannot account for cases where the statue seems to gain and lose parts that the piece of clay does not. I rebut this objection by arguing, contrary to the prevailing view, that the piece of clay is not mereologically constant and might even be highly mereologically flexible.

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“…Proponents of phasalism or something like it includeAyers (1974),Price (1977),Jubien (1993Jubien ( , 2001,Tichý (2004Tichý ( [1987: 718-720),Schwartz (2009), andMooney (2021). Cf Mackie (2006).…”

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Criteria of identity without sortals

Mooney

2022

Nous

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Many philosophers believe that the criteria of identity over time for ordinary objects entail that such objects are permanent members of certain sortal kinds. The sortal kinds in question have come to be known as substance sortal kinds. But in this article, I defend a criterion of identity that is suited to phasalism, the view that alleged substance sortals are in fact phase sortals. The criterion I defend is a sortal‐weighted version of a change‐minimizing criterion first discussed by Eli Hirsch. I present this criterion and then argue that it withstands attempts to show that it is inferior to non‐phasalist rivals.

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Becoming a Statue

Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Ordinary undetached parts

Ordinary undetached parts

The Matter of Coincidence

Criteria of identity without sortals

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