Title: Properties and Their Parts

Abstract: I will present some very early ideas on a hyperintensional theory of properties that I am attempting to work out. I will begin my presentation by considering an unlikely area of inquiry: the mereology of material objects. I will offer a framework for thinking about two distinct types of parthood for objects. One type leads to an unstructured conception of objects; the other leads to a structured conception of objects. I will then suggest that there is a roughly analogous framework for thinking about parthood for properties. Once this framework for properties is in place, I will turn my attention to the theory of properties, what I call ‘the theory of property embodiment’.

The theory of property embodiment draws its inspiration from a theory of objects that endorses a structured conception of objects. The theory of objects that I have in mind is Kit Fine’s theory of embodiment. For what Fine has to say about objects serves as a sort of blueprint to what I would like to say about properties. Whether or not I can properly extend Fine’s theory in the way that I would like is something that I want to explore during our seminar.