Composition and Vagueness

Abstract

'Restricted composition' is a pair of commonsense claims. First, there are some composite objects, that is, objects with proper parts. Second, some objects jointly compose nothing. For example, a defender of restricted composition might say that my body is a composite object, having many atoms as parts. And she might deny that there is anything at all composed of my body and your nose and the planet Mercury. Commonsense credentials notwithstanding, restricted composition is controversial. This paper examines the most influential argument against it. I shall first show that the argument is inadequately defended. I shall then argue that its first premiss is false. This alone given the influence of this argument-is important. And, if I am right about why its first premiss is false, something even more important follows. What follows is a new way of understanding the question of whether composition is restricted and so a new focus for any future debates over composition's extent.