Mereology, or, "Is 2+2 still 4?"

"I am intrigued by (music's) being more than the sum of its parts" said a friend, passionate in conversation, leading me to ponder in this post...

"Philosophy will be done well or poorly based on your mereology." Mereology is the theory of parts and wholes, addressing the question of whether something can be truly distinct, yet absolutely and completely inseparable. Think of a statue made of both gold and silver: two colors may be distinguishable, but they will not be taken apart.

How many things are more than the sum of their parts? 1) I certainly am, as a physical and spiritual being. (What I identify as my) mind, body, and emotions conglomerate into something that is inseparable yet distinct from my spirit. 2) A book's meaning is more than the words on its pages; that's why some of them are very worthy of being poured over repeatedly. 3)A film similarly has life components, even truth, that weren't directed into it - they just appear (though I doubt anyone wants to admit that...besides, who cares as long as it does well in the box office). 4) Words aren't just letters. 5)Oh, and HELLO - relationship! CSL (The Four Loves) talks about person A dying, and person B losing not only A, but the B-A relationship, C loses the C-A relationship as well as observation of the B-A relationship. Heard the phrase "Let's find out what it means to be 'us'!" - not just who I am, not just who you are, but who we are together. 51/2)Again, a family: it isn't just the several individual people, but the living dynamic created between them.

What's the significance of this? AN UNDERSTANDING of community - that each part helps create the framework in which we ineluctably live, adding to the whole to makes it what it is, taking away from it when it leaves; people can thus be understood to be as valuable and unique as they really are. AN APPRECIATION of what is beyond our comprehension/understanding/knowledge, and thus gets de-legitimized, i.e. the metaphysical dimension to reality.

Why would we think otherwise? Why would we think the world was only made of addition, or finite mathematics for that matter? Probably because the world is mechanized/technologized, leading our thought to be in terms of quantity instead of quality, that which is measurable, take-apart-able. Think about off-shoring and out-sourcing, results of the information revolution of the last couple decades. Jobs that once took place locally can be split into a million pieces and sent all over the world before there is a finished product. If space (even time?) is extraneous to the completed product, it seems to follow logically that what finally comes together is no more than what it was when separate. Thus based on current social/economic conditions we assume as we do. Another way of answering includes what's mentioned in the above paragraph, noting current trends in ignoring all that is not material, all that is para-natural/behind-the-scenes-Real.

Mereology seems to relate to the mind-body question and to metaphysics. How?

to be continued...