Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Journal | Volume | Article

234514

Science and the special composition question

Andrew Brenner

pp. 657-678

Abstract

Mereological nihilism is the thesis that composition never occurs. Some philosophers have thought that science gives us compelling evidence against nihilism. In this article I respond to this concern. An initial challenge for nihilism stems from the fact that composition is such a ubiquitous feature of scientific theories. In response I motivate a restricted form of scientific anti-realism with respect to those components of scientific theories which make reference to composition. A second scientifically based worry for nihilism is that certain specific scientific phenomena (quantum entanglement, natural selection) might require ineliminable quantification over composite objects. I address these concerns, and argue that there seem to be nihilist-friendly construals of the scientific phenomena in question.

Publication details

Published in:

Jacot Justine, Pärnamets Philip (2018) Games, interactive rationality, and learning. Synthese 195 (2).

Pages: 657-678

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-016-1234-6

Full citation:

Brenner Andrew (2018) „Science and the special composition question“. Synthese 195 (2), 657–678.