(Originally written July 21, 2006 in Book 6)
Metaphysics
Peter van Inwagen
Chapter 2 - Individuality
According to the common Western Metaphysic the world contains many individual things. Everything that exists, including God is an individual entity. An individual thing is separate and distinct from all other things.
A thing is not an individual thing if it is merely a modification of another thing. (A fist is a modification of the hand that makes it. Thus, a fist and the hand that makes it are the same individual thing).
A thing is not an individual thing if it is a mere collection of things. (An army is not an individual thing, but a collection of soldiers).
A thing is not an individual thing if it is a stuff (i.e. water, flesh, steel, hydrogen, etc.). A thing is not an individual thing if it is a universal. (The Novel War and Peace is a universal, but a particular copy of War and Peace is an individual thing). A particular copy of War and Peace is an instance of the universal War and Peace. Thus, while a universal is never an individual thing, any instance of it is.
Numbers, properties and relations are universals, but when any of these are applied to specific particulars they become instances and thus, individual things.
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