Anti-symmetry and non-extensional mereology
Abstract
I examine the link between extensionality principles of classical mereology and the anti-symmetry of parthood. Varzi’s most recent defence of extensionality depends crucially on assuming anti-symmetry. I examine the notions of proper parthood, weak supplementation and non-well-foundedness. By rejecting anti-symmetry, the anti-extensionalist has a unified, independently grounded response to Varzi’s arguments. I give a formal construction of a non-extensional mereology in which antisymmetry fails. If the notion of ‘mereological equivalence’ is made explicit, this non-anti-symmetric mereology recaptures all of the structure of classical mereology.
Citation
Cotnoir , A 2010 , ' Anti-symmetry and non-extensional mereology ' , The Philosophical Quarterly , vol. 60 , no. 239 , pp. 396-405 . https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9213.2009.649.x
Publication
The Philosophical Quarterly
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0031-8094Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2009 The Author. Journal compilation © 2009 The Editors of The Philosophical Quarterly. The definitive version is available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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