Masses

Masses are the referents of mass nouns ('water', ‘metal', etc.). They are physical objects that can survive neither gaining nor losing parts, can survive being scattered much more widely than can, e.g., a statue can, and satisfy the following fusion principle: for any set of masses of kind Kthere is a mass fusion that is itself of kind K. I argue for two main conclusions in this dissertation: first, masses exist; second, fourdimensionalism is true. Masses have been widely discussed and defended; but they have also been widely criticized and misunderstood. In Chapters 1 - 3 I offer positive arguments in favor of masses. In Chapter 4 I take on the best objection to masses. These four chapters offer a sustained defense of masses. This defense serves an additional purpose: it corrects many misunderstandings about masses in the literature.

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