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Backwaters of ontology

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TitleInfo
Title
Backwaters of ontology
SubTitle
the special composition question and its discontents
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Derstine
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Janelle
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1973-
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Janelle Derstine
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author
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Zimmerman
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Dean
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Dean Zimmerman
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Advisory Committee
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chair
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Schaffer
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Jonathan
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Jonathan Schaffer
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Egan
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Andy
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Andy Egan
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Advisory Committee
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internal member
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Ted
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Advisory Committee
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outside member
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Rutgers University
Role
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degree grantor
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NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
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Text
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theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2014
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2014-10
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2014
Place
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xx
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2b); (type = code)
eng
Abstract (type = abstract)
The goal of the present work is to explore a wide variety of answers to the so-called special composition question (hereafter SCQ), which asks, given some things, the Xs, when is it that the Xs are some one thing, rather than many? For instance, given some pieces of wood, e.g., the wood (and perhaps other materials things like epoxy) compose a canoe? As with the aforementioned cases, it seems obvious that sometimes, e.g., some lumber composes a fence, some molecules compose an organism, or some quantities of alcohol compose a martini. In other situations, it seems questionable whether there is anything one could do to make some things compose another thing. For instance, is there anything one could do to make two persons and an apple pie compose one thing, some single thing such that it is two parts person and one part pie? As a rather famous example of the latter “strange kind,” David Lewis postulates “fusions” of such disparate and heterogeneous things as “trout-turkeys,” composed of the front half of a turkey and back half of a trout. The previous illustrations are all cases in which we can ask, when do some things become one whole, and is there a general and uniform answer to be searched for? There are three standard answers in “material object metaphysics” that philosophers have thought have some promise in answering the SCQ: sometimes, always, and never. The present work examines each of these answers, and some variants thereof, in detail. One of my primary aims is to sort the tenable answers from the untenable ones. In each chapter, I provide a general statement of the view, its alleged advantages and disadvantages, and then evaluate the cogency of arguments in favor of those allegations. In Chapter six, I argue that noncontingentism regarding existential statements about when composition occurs have often ended in stalemates. I recommend that the relevant kind of contingentism, along with an empirically informed metaphysics, will better serve those wanting to know when composition occurs, if at all, in our world.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Philosophy
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Matter--Constitution
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Object (Philosophy)
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Ontology
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Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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ETD
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ETD_6015
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electronic resource
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application/pdf
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text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (x, 253 p.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Janelle Derstine
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TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
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rucore19991600001
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NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3KP83T9
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights

RightsDeclaration (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Derstine
GivenName
Janelle
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2014-10-30 16:33:39
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Name
Janelle Derstine
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Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
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Type
License
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Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
RightsEvent
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2014-10-31
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = end)
2016-10-30
Type
Embargo
Detail
Access to this PDF has been restricted at the author's request. It will be publicly available after October 30th, 2016.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical

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ETD
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windows xp
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