Material Beings
E726003
Material Beings is a highly influential metaphysical monograph by Peter van Inwagen that defends mereological nihilism about ordinary objects while offering a distinctive account of living organisms.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Material Beings canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8332889 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Material Beings Context triple: [Peter van Inwagen, notableWork, Material Beings]
-
A.
Elements
Elements is Euclid’s foundational mathematical treatise that systematically presents the principles of geometry and number theory and became one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics.
-
B.
Mattertal
Mattertal is a high alpine valley in the Swiss canton of Valais, known for its dramatic peaks including the Matterhorn and its popular mountaineering and ski resorts.
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C.
The New Being
The New Being is a theological work by Paul Tillich that explores the transformative power of Christ as the foundation for a renewed human existence and spiritual reality.
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D.
Living Things
Living Things is the fifth studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, known for blending electronic elements with their signature alternative rock and nu metal sound.
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E.
Soul and Form
Soul and Form is a collection of early philosophical and literary essays by György Lukács that explores the nature of form, subjectivity, and the meaning of life in modern culture.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Material Beings Target entity description: Material Beings is a highly influential metaphysical monograph by Peter van Inwagen that defends mereological nihilism about ordinary objects while offering a distinctive account of living organisms.
-
A.
Elements
Elements is Euclid’s foundational mathematical treatise that systematically presents the principles of geometry and number theory and became one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics.
-
B.
Mattertal
Mattertal is a high alpine valley in the Swiss canton of Valais, known for its dramatic peaks including the Matterhorn and its popular mountaineering and ski resorts.
-
C.
The New Being
The New Being is a theological work by Paul Tillich that explores the transformative power of Christ as the foundation for a renewed human existence and spiritual reality.
-
D.
Living Things
Living Things is the fifth studio album by American rock band Linkin Park, known for blending electronic elements with their signature alternative rock and nu metal sound.
-
E.
Soul and Form
Soul and Form is a collection of early philosophical and literary essays by György Lukács that explores the nature of form, subjectivity, and the meaning of life in modern culture.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
non-fiction book
ⓘ
philosophical monograph ⓘ |
| academicDiscipline | philosophy of religion-adjacent metaphysics ⓘ |
| author | Peter van Inwagen ⓘ |
| centralClaim |
ordinary objects are mere arrangements of simples
ⓘ
the only composite material objects are living organisms ⓘ there are no composite material objects such as tables and chairs ⓘ |
| countryOfPublication |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| field |
metaphysics
ⓘ
philosophy ⓘ |
| genre | analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| hasPart |
critique of common-sense ontology
ⓘ
discussion of composite objects ⓘ discussion of constitution ⓘ discussion of four-dimensionalism ⓘ discussion of living organisms ⓘ discussion of simples ⓘ treatment of the problem of the many ⓘ treatment of vague identity ⓘ |
| hasReception | widely discussed in analytic metaphysics literature ⓘ |
| influenced |
analytic metaphysics of persistence
ⓘ
contemporary ontology of material objects ⓘ debates on composition as identity ⓘ debates on mereological nihilism ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Quinean ontology
ⓘ
analytic metaphysics tradition ⓘ classical mereology ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
composition
ⓘ
identity over time ⓘ mereology ⓘ metaphysics of material objects ⓘ ontology of ordinary objects ⓘ persistence ⓘ |
| notableFor |
distinctive account of living organisms as exceptions to nihilism
ⓘ
impact on contemporary metaphysics syllabi ⓘ systematic defense of mereological nihilism ⓘ |
| notableIdea | special composition question ⓘ |
| philosophicalPositionDefended |
mereological nihilism about ordinary objects
ⓘ
organisms as genuine composite objects ⓘ |
| philosophicalStance |
acceptance of simples
ⓘ
biological approach to composition ⓘ rejection of arbitrary composite objects ⓘ |
| publicationDecade | 1990s ⓘ |
| publisher | Cornell University Press ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
graduate students in philosophy
ⓘ
professional philosophers ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Material Beings Description of subject: Material Beings is a highly influential metaphysical monograph by Peter van Inwagen that defends mereological nihilism about ordinary objects while offering a distinctive account of living organisms.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.