Material Constitution

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The problems of material constitution arise from the fact that material objects can be constituted of different parts at different times (or, for the modal versions of the problems, at different possible worlds). They are among the trickiest and most fascinating metaphysical problems, on a par with the problems of free will or time. This book is the only anthology dedicated to this area of metaphysics, and for that reason alone it is invaluable to a contemporary analytical metaphysician. Work in this area tends to focus around variations on three or four different puzzles. To give you an idea of what this book is about, I will consider one of these puzzles and the various proposed solutions to it: the puzzle of Tibbles the cat.The original version of this puzzle is attributed by Peter Geach to the medieval philosopher William of Sherwood, but a similar puzzle dates back to the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus (circa 200 B. C.). A simplified version is as follows. Suppose...Read more

This book should be read for any scholar who wants a better grasp of the implications of identity criteria on formal and descriptive ontology. That said, the selection of papers represented in this edition give away a predilection for semantic arguments that have nothing substantive to contribute to an understanding of actual problems of 'Material Constitution'.
The title is misleading, in that, the overwhelming majority of contributers to this collection all have serious reservations against de re readings on identity! In fact, one contributer, David Wiggins, who is well known for his work on identity criteria, argues against the existence of de re modality! This collection is not about "the furniture of the world" but is instead a treatise on a semantic understanding of identity and objects, with the caveat that this is the sole and correct treatment of the subject. The bias is against any de re analysis of objects, since the contributers find that to be the wrong way of...Read more