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3 - 5 July 2017, Conference on Mereology and Identity, Pisa, Italy

Date: 3 - 5 July 2017
Location: Pisa, Italy

The contemporary debate on mereology is largely hinged on the notion of identity. Indeed, classical mereology dictates that complex entities are identical if and only if they have the same proper parts. On the other hand, many scholars who doubt the adequacy of classical mereology point to real or fictional cases in which different wholes would have the same proper parts.  The upholders of Composition as Identity think that identity, or a relation analogous to identity, also connects a whole with its parts. By contrast, the opponents of Composition as Identity retort that composition fails to respect some pivotal principles that holds for standard identity, such as the Indiscerniblity of Identicals, coreferentiality  or transitivity. Finally, in the debate about Composition as Identity, the so-called Sider-Yi Collapse seems to show that some roles sometimes attributed to identity are incompatible with the standard characterization of plural identity.

The conference will host the main scholars involved in this debate, with the purpose of encouraging innovative solutions to various open problems.

The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (Italy) and the University of Padua (Italy) have the pleasure to offer 6 bursaries (including a single room in Pisa, one social dinner and meals at the university restaurant for the duration of the conference) to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are willing to be actively involved in the conference. The selected participants ARE NOT expected to deliver a presentation, but to attend the lectures of the invited speakers and raise objections and questions. Travel expenses will not be reimbursed.

For more information, see http://www.sns.it/en or contact .

Please note that this newsitem has been archived, and may contain outdated information or links.