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On Mon, 23 Dec 2002, And Rosta wrote: > Let me attempt to outline the key features of Collective and Substance. > I find this sort of reductive, essentialist approach easier than > Nick's more discursive approach. Hopefully they're complementary. > > None of the below is intended to imply a revision to the taxonomy > of gadri types that the discussion has agreed on. > > * The difference between broda Substance and a single individual broda. > * Intrinsic Boundaries (- can be fuzzy) = Countability > - broda Substance lacks intrinsic boundaries = is uncountable > - a single individual broda has intrinsic boundaries = is countable > * divisibility: within reason, you can arbitrarily subdivide broda > Substance and end up with broda Substance, but you can't arbitrarily > subdivide a single individual broda and end up with a single > individual broda. > > * Collective > * is a group of two or more broda (seen another way, a single individual > broda would be a group of one broda) > * is not Divisible: although you can divide a group into two groups, > you can't *arbitrarily* subdivide it -- you must subdivide it at > the boundaries between group members. > * may or may not have intrinsic boundaries (but a group of a definite > number of members does have intrinsic boundaries) > [Hence a MOI brivla for Collective would be compatible with both > a Substance gadri and a non-Substance gadri.] Looks like us Collectivists need to get our story straight! What about the central role of emergent properties as the defining justification for bothering to use a collective instead of a plural? -- // if (!terrorist) // ignore (); // else collect_data ();