Dear Pat, (01)
That depends on how you define individual (of course). (02)
> >>> MW: Someone mentioned that an individual is something that does not
> have members (in the sense of a set having members) and that is close
> to what I would mean, but that would make the null set an individual,
> so it is not quite adequate. My definition of individual is something
> that exists in space and time. I am not a set (or class or type or kind
> or sort etc) nor is my car or this email. Nor is Sherlock Holmes to
> give a more difficult example. All these things can be placed in space
> and time (even if it is imaginary space and time) . On the other hand,
> sets/classes/types are generally considered to exist outside space and
> time.
> >>
> >> I understand that a 'main dichotomy' between an individual and a
> set/class/type is - existence in space and time (rather than having or
> not having members).
>
> That surely will not work. The natural number five is an individual,
> but does not exist in space and time, even imaginary space and time.
> Does Moby Dick, the work, exist in space and time? (Where?) Some people
> think that sets exist in time. There is hardly any position on these
> debates that has not been held and defended by someone. (03)
MW: I agree that the natural number five is not a set, and that it is also
not a spatio-temporal extent, but that would not make it an individual, as I
would define it, but an abstract object. But I will agree that there is a
problem at this level of abstraction about what words to use for what
things, and it is obviously easy for this to lead to confusion. (04)
Regards (05)
Matthew West
Information Junction
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