Individuating Part–Whole Relations in the Biological World

Abstract

What are the conditions under which one biological object is a part of another biological object? This chapter answers this question by developing a general, systematic account of biological parthood, specifying two criteria for biological parthood: substantial spatial inclusion requires biological parts to be spatially located inside or in the region that the natural boundary of the biological whole occupies; compositional relevance captures the fact that a biological part engages in a biological process that must make a necessary contribution to a condition that is minimally sufficient to one or more of the characteristic behaviors of the biological whole. Instead of emphasizing their diversity, this chapter asks what biological part–whole relations have in common and what constrains their existence. After presenting her account, the author discusses how far it can cope with hard cases (e.g., redundant parts) and reveals the merits and limits of monism.

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