How to be a Mereological Anti-Realist

Research output: Chapter in book/report/conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

Peter van Inwagen’s “special composition question” asks, more or less, “what must some objects be like in order for them to compose another object?” The chapter develops and defends (though falls short of fully endorsing) a theistic anti-realist response to the special composition question, according to which God decides when composition occurs. It is argued that this form of theistic mereological anti-realism is preferable to extant non-theistic variants of mereological anti-realism, and that theistic mereological anti-realism receives some motivation from several other sources (e.g., theistic mereological anti-realism provides some novel resources for responding to the problem of evil).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion
EditorsLara Buchak, Dean W. Zimmerman
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages83-119
Number of pages37
Volume10
ISBN (Print)9780192862976
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2022

User-Defined Keywords

  • composition
  • special composition question
  • anti-realism
  • theism
  • resurrection
  • problem of evil

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