It is just one theoretical tradition that accepts that aggregation or the whole is equal to the some of the parts, others believe that the whole is less than and/or greater than the some of the parts.
Screw belief; show me evidence - and evidence that has descriptive (if not also explanatory, and perhaps even practical) application.
I'm not simply asking for an account of a collective identity for any particular collective, though that would be a good starting point. I'm challenging whether "the whole is" is even meaningful. The whole isn't. It isn't simply that a collective's "identity" is dubious; in much of modern life, boundary conditions for "collective" are, too.
You can't get there from where you are. you have to toss the atomism and start considering that there are molecules and moles which act fundamentally different as a whole than as a collection of atoms. jeremy hunsinger Assistant Professor Pratt Institute www.cddc.vt.edu wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series