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Re: [ontolog-forum] entity: nothing

To: paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: "[ontolog-forum] " <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Pat Hayes <phayes@xxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:55:01 -0500
Message-id: <p06230902c315e9b23ff1@[10.100.0.19]>
>I am not entirely sure that we have not yet answered this, I may have
>missed somethin
>
>Following the discussion on holes, the one questrion that I am left
>with is  whether
>holes are entities as such, or non entities    (01)

They certainly are entities. (I'm not sure what 
it would mean to BE a NON-entity.) For example, 
they can be individuated: the hole through Mont 
Blanc is a different hole than that under the 
English Channel. They can be categorized: 
tunnels, mines, caves, workings, crevasses, etc.. 
They have properties: they can be larger or 
smaller, dangerous or not, natural or man-made, 
etc.. They have a shape: they can be straight or 
curved or branching, etc..    (02)

>  and
>
>if so
>  whether they would belong to a  ' class of nothing' being
>proposed/discussed somewhere earlier on this forum
>
>It looks to me that they are non entity cause they dont have a mass
>that can be measured
>I mean an entity is determined by its attributes and properties while
>the only property of a hole that we can say is 'absence of energy'    (03)

We can say all kinds of thing about holes. Just 
go to a tool store and read the labels. Recently 
I was pouring some concrete foundations which 
needed to be linked to old concrete by rebar, 
which had to be glued into holes drilled into the 
old footings using a special epoxy cement. The 
cement came with an entire *booklet* almost 
entirely devoted to the required properties of 
the hole into which the rebar should be glued.    (04)

Pat    (05)

PS. Many things don't have mass. Photons for 
example have no (rest) mass but arguably the 
universe could not exist without them.    (06)

>
>This is an attempt to bring the hole discussion into the focus of
>current ontological question
>
>apologies if this is trivial
>
>
>--
>Paola Di Maio
>School of IT
>www.mfu.ac.th
>*********************************************
>
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