<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>In this paper, we want to present the genesis of Stanisław Leśniewski’s mereology. Although ‘mereology’ comes from theword ‘part’, mereology arose as a theory of collective classes. That is why we present the differences between the concepts of <italic>being a distributive class</italic> and <italic>being a collective class</italic>. Next, we present Leśniewski’s original mereology from 1927, but with a modern approach. Leśniewski was inspired to create his concept of classes and their elements by Russell’s antinomy. To face it, Leśniewski had to define the concept of <italic>being an element of</italic> based on the concept of <italic>being part of</italic>. Leśniewski showed that in his theory, there is no equivalent to Russell’s antinomy. We will show that his solution has nothing to do with the original approach because, in both cases, we are talking about objects of a different kind. Russell’s original antinomy concerned distributive classes, and Leśsniewski’s considerations concerned collective classes.</p>
</abstract>

In this paper, we want to present the genesis of Stanisław Leśniewski’s mereology. Although ‘mereology’ comes from theword ‘part’, mereology arose as a theory of collective classes. That is why we present the differences between the concepts of being a distributive class and being a collective class. Next, we present Leśniewski’s original mereology from 1927, but with a modern approach. Leśniewski was inspired to create his concept of classes and their elements by Russell’s antinomy. To face it, Leśniewski had to define the concept of being an element of based on the concept of being part of. Leśniewski showed that in his theory, there is no equivalent to Russell’s antinomy. We will show that his solution has nothing to do with the original approach because, in both cases, we are talking about objects of a different kind. Russell’s original antinomy concerned distributive classes, and Leśsniewski’s considerations concerned collective classes.

From the History of Leśniewski’s Mereology

Studia Humana

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"From the History of Leśniewski\u2019s Mereology"}

In this paper, we want to present the genesis of Stanisław Leśniewski’s mereology. Although ‘mereology’ comes from theword ‘part’, mereology arose as a theory...

From the History of Leśniewski’s Mereology

Published Online: Apr 28, 2024

Page range: 5 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2024-0002

Keywords
mereology, Leśniewski, collective class, distributive class, set theory

© 2024 Andrzej Pietruszczak, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

From the History of Leśniewski’s Mereology

Published Online: Apr 28, 2024

Page range: 5 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sh-2024-0002

Keywordsmereology, Leśniewski, collective class, distributive class, set theory

© 2024 Andrzej Pietruszczak, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
mereology, Leśniewski, collective class, distributive class, set theory