Substantial priority : an essay in fundamental mereology

Abstract

Philosophical inquiry concerning the relationship between wholes and their parts (mereology) has occupied center stage in some of the most fruitful periods in the Western philosophical tradition. With the recent resurgence of interest in metaphysical grounding and priority, the question of fundamental mereology- whether wholes or their proper parts are metaphysically fundamental- has taken on renewed life in contemporary metaphysics.