Volume 17, 2008
Ontology
Takeshi Akiba
Pages 7-13
Objection to Simons’ Nuclear Theory
A number of philosophers today endorse the view that
material substances (ex. cats, stones, atoms) can be analyzed as
bundles of “particular properties” or “tropes”. Among several
developments, the theory that P. Simons proposed is seen as the
most successful one. Simons’ theory seems to owe its high reputation
to mainly two advantages which he claims for his theory: the
capacity for avoiding infinite regress, and the explanatory adequacy
for phenomenon of change. In this paper, however, I try to object to
this high appraisal, by showing that the two alleged advantages
indeed cannot be simultaneously secured by Simons’ position. To
this aim, I proceed as follows: First, I present Simons’ theory and
explain its alleged two advantages. Next, I take up A. Denkel’s
criticism and show that the explanatory adequacy will be lost unless
Simons admits a certain revision of his theory. Finally, I show that as
a result of the revision needed, Simons’ position comes to lose the
capacity for avoiding regress in turn.