In physics, if A is part of B, it means it’s a spatial part. I think the “parts” of a conscious experience are part of it in some other way. I say this very metaphorically, and only metaphorically, but it’s more like the way that polyhedra have faces. The components of a conscious experience, I would think, don’t even occur independently of conscious experiences.
There’s a whole sub-branch of ontology concerning part-whole relations, called mereology. It potentially encompasses not only spatial parts, but also subsets, “logical parts”, “metaphysical parts” (e.g. the property is part of the thing with the property), the “organic wholes” of various holisms, and so on. Of course, this is philosophy, so you have people with sparse ontologies, who think most of this is not really real, and then you have the people who are realists about various abstract or exotic relations.
I think I’ve invented a name for my own ontological position, by the way—reverse monism. I’ll have to explain what that means somewhere…
Before I respond to this: how much physics have you studied? Just high school, or the standard three semesters of college work? How well did you do in those classes? Have you read any popular-science discussions of physics, etc. outside of the classes you took? Have you studied any particular field of physics-related problems (e.g. materials science/engineering)?
I’m asking this because your discussion of part-whole relations doesn’t sound like something a scientist would invoke. If you are an expert, I’ll back off, but I have to wonder if you’ve ever used Newton’s Laws on a deeper level than cannonballs fired off cliffs.
I come from theoretical physics. I’ve trashed my career several times over, but I’ve always remained engaged with the culture. However, I’ve also studied philosophy, and that’s where all this talk of ontology comes from.
What are “part-whole relations”? That doesn’t sound like a natural category in physics.
In physics, if A is part of B, it means it’s a spatial part. I think the “parts” of a conscious experience are part of it in some other way. I say this very metaphorically, and only metaphorically, but it’s more like the way that polyhedra have faces. The components of a conscious experience, I would think, don’t even occur independently of conscious experiences.
There’s a whole sub-branch of ontology concerning part-whole relations, called mereology. It potentially encompasses not only spatial parts, but also subsets, “logical parts”, “metaphysical parts” (e.g. the property is part of the thing with the property), the “organic wholes” of various holisms, and so on. Of course, this is philosophy, so you have people with sparse ontologies, who think most of this is not really real, and then you have the people who are realists about various abstract or exotic relations.
I think I’ve invented a name for my own ontological position, by the way—reverse monism. I’ll have to explain what that means somewhere…
Before I respond to this: how much physics have you studied? Just high school, or the standard three semesters of college work? How well did you do in those classes? Have you read any popular-science discussions of physics, etc. outside of the classes you took? Have you studied any particular field of physics-related problems (e.g. materials science/engineering)?
I’m asking this because your discussion of part-whole relations doesn’t sound like something a scientist would invoke. If you are an expert, I’ll back off, but I have to wonder if you’ve ever used Newton’s Laws on a deeper level than cannonballs fired off cliffs.
I come from theoretical physics. I’ve trashed my career several times over, but I’ve always remained engaged with the culture. However, I’ve also studied philosophy, and that’s where all this talk of ontology comes from.
Fair enough—I will read through the thread and make a new response.