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Philosophy

The Metaphysics of Composition: When Do Parts Form a Whole?

Quick fact

Philosopher Peter van Inwagen argues that the only genuinely composite objects are living beings—your body's parts compose a whole only because they work together to keep you alive.

Why this is interesting

You see a pile of sand, then a sandcastle. What makes the first a mere heap but the second a whole? Or is that difference just in your mind?