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Inverse View
It is not the case that Therefore, plural entities exist as causally efficacious wholes, independent of whether their constituent singulars are themselves ultimately real.
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Reasons For
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Reason for
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1.
All causation ultimately reduces to fundamental particles governed by basic physical laws; composite causation is merely descriptive shorthand.
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2.
Causal efficacy requires metaphysical fundamentality; if parts are real but wholes are not, wholes cannot be genuine causal agents.
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3.
Plural entities depend existentially on their constituents; dependent entities cannot be independent causally efficacious wholes.
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Reasons Against
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Reason against
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1.
Plural entities exhibit causal powers distinct from their parts: a team accomplishes what no individual member could alone.
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2.
Our best scientific theories treat composite systems (atoms, molecules, organisms) as fundamental causal agents in their domains.
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3.
Denying causal efficacy to wholes either requires eliminativism about most objects or posits ad hoc exceptions to causal power.
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