The bona fide boundaries of material objects: A metaphysical study on composition and vagueness
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May 10, 2021
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Abstract
This paper addresses the issue of boundaries in the broader discussion about material composition. According to nihilism, two or more objects can never compose a further one. In this view, ordinary material objects and their boundaries (surfaces) would be fiat entities, while simple objects (partless) and their sharp boundaries are the only bona fide components of the world. However, if there are reasons to postulate the existence of a bona fide boundary that separates a collection of objects from their spatial surroundings, then there are reasons to postulate the existence of a bona fide composite object too. If there exists a boundary, given its ontological dependence, there must exist an object it belongs to. The emergence of a boundary of a three-dimensional material object instantiates properties which are irreducible to the properties of their parts. Nonetheless, once that boundaries are introduced in the world, the presence of the ontological vagueness in modal terms becomes unavoidable.
Keywords
objetos materiales, límites, vaguedad, composición, nihilismomaterial objects, boundaries, vagueness, composition, nihilism
References
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Varzi, A. (2001). Vagueness in Geography. Philosophy and Geography, 4(1),
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Varzi, A. (2011). Boundaries, Conventions, and Realism. En: J. Kleim & M. O’Rourke (Eds.), Carving Nature at its Joints. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Akiba, K. (2004). Vagueness in the World. Nous 38(3), pp. 407-429. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3506246
Aristóteles. (2007). Metafísica. (Trad. T. Calvo Martínez). Madrid: Gredos.
Barnes, E. (2010). Ontic Vagueness: A Guide for the Perplexed. Nous, 44(4), pp. 601-627. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40959694
Brentano, F. (2010). Philosophical Investigations on Space, Time and the Continuum. (Trad. Barry Smith). New York: Routledge.
Casati, R. & Varzi, A. (1999). Parts and Places: The Structure of Spatial Representation. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Chisholm, R. (1976). Person and Object: A Metaphysical Study. Chicago: Open Court Publishing Company.
Dummett, M. (1999). Wang’s Paradox. En: R. Keefe & P. Smith (Eds.), Vagueness: A Reader (pp. 99-118). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Euclid (1962). The Thirteen Books of Euclid’s Elements. (Trad. T. L. Heath). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Frege, G. (2007). The Foundations of Arithmetic. (Trad. D. Jacquette). New York: Pearson Longman.
Gourney, J. (2019, 12 de agosto). The Fadeaway Girl and the Kanizsa. Gurney Journey. [Blog post]. Recuperado el 17 de marzo 2021 de http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-fadeaway-girl-and-kanizsa-triangle.html
Heller, M. (1996). Against Metaphysical Vagueness. Nous, 30(10), 177-185. https://doi.org/10.2307/2216242
Heller, M. (2008). The Ontology of Physical Objects: Four-Dimensional Hunks of Matter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hirsch, E. (1982). The Concept of Identity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Holdich, T. (1916). Political Frontiers and Boundary Making. London: MacMillan.
van Inwagen, P. (1990). Material Beings. London: Cornell University Press.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Could Disappear Within 20 Years (2020). Reddit. Recuperado el 17 de marzo 2021 de https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceporn/duplicates/eg0wsn/jupiters_great_red_spot_could_disappear_within_20/
Keefe, R., & Smith, P. (1999). Introduction: Theories of Vagueness. En: R. Keefe & P. Smith (Eds.), Vagueness: A Reader (pp. 99-118). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Keil, G. (2013). Introduction: Vagueness and Ontology. Int Ontology Metaphysics, 14, 149-164. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12133-013-0118-1
Köhler, W. (1947). Gestalt Psychology: The Definitive Statement of the Gestalt Theory. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Lewis, D. (1986). On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell.
Merricks (2001). Objects and Persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Núñez, G. (2019). Boundaries and Things: A Metaphysical Study of the Brentano-Chisholm Theory. Kriterion, 33(2), 15-47.
Parret, T. (2014, 15 de mayo). Swarm and Fuzzy. Newsweek. Recuperado el 17 de marzo 2021 de https://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/23/swarm-and-fuzzy-251115.html
Rosen, G., & Dorr, C. (2002). Composition as a Fiction. En: R. Gale (Ed.), The Blackwell Guide to Metaphysics (pp. 151-174). Oxford: Blackwell.
Russell, B. (1999). Vagueness. En: R. Keefe & P. Smith (Eds.), Vagueness: A Reader (pp. 61-68). Cambridge: MIT Press.
Sainsbury, R. M. (1989). What is a Vague Object? Analysis, 49(3), 99-103. https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/49.3.99
Schaffer, J. (2009). Spacetime the One Substance. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 145(1), 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-009-9386-6
Smith, B. (1995). On Drawing Lines on a Map. En: A. U. Frank, W. Kuhn & D. M. Mark (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory. Proceedings of the Third Conference - COSIT’1995 (pp. 475-484). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Smith, B. (2001). Fiat Objects. Topoi, 20(2), 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1017948522031
Smith & Varzi (2000). Fiat and Bona Fide Boundaries. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 60(2), 401-420.
Sorensen, R. (1998). Transitions. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition, 91(3), 275-295. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00354587
Stroll, A. (1988). Surfaces. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Tye, M. (1990). Vague Objects. Mind, 99(396), 535-557. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/XCIX.396.535
Varzi, A. (2001). Vagueness in Geography. Philosophy and Geography, 4(1),
49-65.
Varzi, A. (2011). Boundaries, Conventions, and Realism. En: J. Kleim & M. O’Rourke (Eds.), Carving Nature at its Joints. Cambridge: MIT Press.
How to Cite
Nuñez Erices, G. G. (2021). The bona fide boundaries of material objects: A metaphysical study on composition and vagueness. Universitas Philosophica, 38(76), 189–221. https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.uph38-76.lbfm
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