A Tempora Mereology for Distinguishing between Integral Objects and Portions of Stuff
Thomas Bittner, Maureen P. Donnelly · 2014
We develop a formal theory of mereology that includes re-lations that change over time. We show how this theory for-malizes reasoning over domains of material objects, which in-clude not only integral objects (my computer, your liver) but also portions of stuff (the water in your glass, the blood in a vial). In particular, we use different mereological summation relations to distinguish between the ways in which i) integral objects, ii) portions of unstructured, homogenous stuffs (e.g. the water in your glass), and iii) mixtures (the blood in a vial) are linked to their parts over time.