Metaphysics Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Particulars === [[Particular]]s are individual entities and include both concrete objects, like Aristotle, the Eiffel Tower, or a specific apple, and abstract objects, like the number 2 or a specific set in mathematics. Also called ''individuals'',{{efn|Some philosophers use the two terms in slightly different ways.<ref>{{harvnb|Bigelow|1998|loc=Lead Section}}</ref>}} they are unique, non-repeatable entities and contrast with [[Universal (metaphysics)|universals]], like the color red, which can at the same time exist in several places and characterize several particulars.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Lowe|2005|p=683}} | {{harvnb|MacLeod|Rubenstein|loc=Lead Section, Β§ 1a. The Nature of Universals}} | {{harvnb|Bigelow|1998|loc=Lead Section}} | {{harvnb|Campbell|2006|loc=Β§ Particularity and Individuality}} | {{harvnb|Maurin|2019|loc=Lead Section}} }}</ref> A widely held view is that particulars instantiate universals but are not themselves instantiated by something else, meaning that they exist in themselves while universals exist in something else. Substratum theory analyzes particulars as a substratum, also called ''bare particular'', together with various properties. The substratum confers individuality to the particular while the properties express its qualitative features or what it is like. This approach is rejected by [[Bundle theory|bundle theorists]], who state that particulars are only bundles of properties without an underlying substratum. Some bundle theorists include in the bundle an individual essence, called ''[[haecceity]]'', to ensure that each bundle is unique. Another proposal for concrete particulars is that they are individuated by their space-time location.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Maurin|2019|loc=Lead Section}} | {{harvnb|Campbell|2006|loc=Β§ Particularity and Individuality}} | {{harvnb|Bigelow|1998|loc=Lead Section, Β§ 3. Bundles of Properties}} | {{harvnb|Loux|Crisp|2017|pp=82β83}} }}</ref> Concrete particulars encountered in everyday life, like rocks, tables, and organisms, are complex entities [[Composition (objects)|composed]] of various parts. For example, a table is made up of a tabletop and legs, each of which is itself made up of countless particles. The relation between parts and wholes is studied by [[mereology]].<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Loux|Crisp|2017|pp=250β251}} | {{harvnb|Varzi|2019|loc=Lead Section, Β§ 1. 'Part' and Parthood}} | {{harvnb|Cornell|loc=Lead Section, Β§ 2. The Special Composition Question}} | {{harvnb|Tallant|2017|pp=19β21}} }}</ref> The problem of the many is about which groups of entities form mereological wholes, for instance, whether a dust particle on the tabletop forms part of the table. According to mereological universalists, every collection of entities forms a whole, meaning that the parts of the table without the dust particle form one whole while they together with it form a second whole. Mereological moderatists hold that certain conditions have to be fulfilled for a group of entities to compose a whole, for example, that the entities touch one another. [[Mereological nihilism|Mereological nihilists]] reject the idea that there are any wholes. They deny that, strictly speaking, there is a table and talk instead of particles that are arranged table-wise.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Loux|Crisp|2017|pp=82β83}} | {{harvnb|Cornell|loc=Lead Section, Β§ 2. The Special Composition Question}} | {{harvnb|Brenner|2015|p=1295}} | {{harvnb|Tallant|2017|pp=19β21, 23β24, 32β33}} }}</ref> A related mereological problem is whether there are simple entities that have no parts, as [[Atomism|atomists]] claim, or not, as continuum theorists contend.<ref>{{multiref | {{harvnb|Berryman|2022|loc=Β§ 2.6 Atomism and Particle Theories in Ancient Greek Sciences}} | {{harvnb|Varzi|2019|loc=Β§ 3.4 Atomism, Gunk, and Other Options}} }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page