(no subject)

"Smith (1996) and others have shown that mereotopology can be useful in ontology (Smith 1996), by formalizing relations such as contact, connection, boundaries, interiors, holes, and so on."

"The first to reason consciously and at length about parts and wholes was, apparently, Edmund Husserl in his 1901 Logical Investigations, translated as Husserl (1970). However, the word "mereology" is absent from his writings, and he employed no symbolism even though his doctorate was in mathematics."

Sartre was Husserl's student and incorporates some primitive mereotopological ideas in Being and Nothingness, but curiously doesn't pursue them very far, relative to some of his other ideas.

(no subject)

"Nominalism arose in reaction to the problem of universals. Specifically, accounting for the fact that some things are of the same type. For example, Fluffy and Kitzler are both cats, or, the fact that certain properties are repeatable, such as: the grass, the shirt, and Kermit the Frog are green. One wants to know in virtue of what are Fluffy and Kitzler both cats, and what makes the grass, the shirt, and Kermit green."

(no subject)

One more for the night, just because it's fun to see Wittgenstein PWN.

Well, also because it's a fun concept to play with:
"So one might say: the ostensive definition explains the use--the meaning--of the word when the overall role of the word in language is clear. Thus if I know that someone means to explain a colour-word to me the ostensive definition "That is called 'sepia' " will help me to understand the word.... One has already to know (or be able to do) something in order to be capable of asking a thing's name. But what does one have to know?"