Collocation and Constitution

Metaphysica 22 (2):251-261 (2021)
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Abstract

Many philosophers accept the view that, when one object constitutes a second, the two objects can be entirely in the same place at the same time. But what of two objects such that neither constitutes the other? Can they be collocated? If there can be such a pair of objects, they would have to share the same material constituents. To show that there are two collocated objects and not just one object at a specific time and place, one has to show that one of the objects has some property that the other fails to have. I claim that the properties I use in my example are legitimate substitution instances in the Law of the Indiscernibility of Identicals. I offer a metaphysically possible example that illustrates such collocation, a possible case from ‘raw nature’, two trees.

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David-Hillel Ruben
Birkbeck, University of London

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References found in this work

The structure of objects.Kathrin Koslicki - 2008 - New York: Oxford University Press.
Four Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time.Theodore Sider - 2004 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 68 (3):642-647.
Theories of masses and problems of constitution.Dean W. Zimmerman - 1995 - Philosophical Review 104 (1):53-110.
A Counter-Example to Locke’s Thesis.Kit Fine - 2000 - The Monist 83 (3):357-361.

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