Dictionary Definition
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -ʌŋk
Noun
- In the context of "uncountable|informal": dirt or grime; any vague or unknown
substance
- I washed all the gunk off the light fixture, and found that it was white, not brown.
- A subculture of 21st century American males, combining elements of modern gothic culture with punk rock.
- A member of the gunk subculture.
Extensive Definition
In mereology, the term gunk
applies to any whole whose parts all have further proper parts.
That is, a gunky object is not made of indivisible atoms. In
contrast, an atomic individual is entirely decomposable into
atoms.
If point-sized objects are always simple, then a
gunky object does not have any point-sized parts. By usual accounts
of gunk, such as Alfred
Tarski's in 1929, three-dimensional gunky objects also do not
have other degenerate parts shaped like one-dimensional curves or
two-dimensional surfaces. (See also
Whitehead's point-free geometry.)
Gunk is an important test case for accounts of
the composition of material objects: for instance, Ted Sider has
challenged Peter Van
Inwagen's account of composition because it is inconsistent
with the possibility of gunk. Sider's argument also applies to a
simpler view than Van Inwagen's: mereological nihilism, the view
that only material simples exist. If nihilism is necessarily true,
then gunk is impossible. But, as Sider argues, because gunk is both
conceivable and possible, nihilism is false, or at best a
contingent truth.
Gunk has also played an important role in the
history of topology
(Zimmerman 1996a) and in recent debates concerning change, contact,
and the structure of physical space. The composition of space
and the composition of material objects are related by receptacles
- regions of space that could harbour a material object. (The term
receptacles was coined by Richard Cartwright (Cartwright 1975).) It
seems reasonable to assume that if space is gunky, a receptacle is
gunky and then a material object is possibly gunky.
The term was first used by David Lewis
in his work Parts of Classes (1991) and "Nominalistic Set Theory"
(1970). Dean W. Zimmerman defends the possibility of atomless gunk
(1996b). See also Hud Hudson (2007).
Gunk has also been used as a psuedo curse word,
most famously by Larry Kimball of Payson, UT. Kimball used the term
frequently in class (Mr. Kimball was a math teacher turned
administrator). So much so that it became the nickname of choice by
the more rowdy crowd at Payson High School.
References
- Cartwright, Richard, 1975, "Scattered Objects", in Keith Lehrer, ed., Analysis and Metaphysics (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1975), pp. 153-171. Reprinted in Philosophical Essays, pp. 171-186.
- Hud Hudson, 2007. "Simples and Gunk", Philosophy Compass 2 (2), pp. 291–302.
- Lewis, David, 1970. “Nominalistic Set Theory”, Noûs 4, pp. 225-40.
- Lewis, David, 1991. Parts of Classes, Cambridge: Basil Blackwell.
- Sider, Ted, 1993. "Van Inwagen and the Possibility of Gunk", Analysis. 53(4): 285-289.
- Tarski, Alfred, 1929. "Foundations of the Geometry of Solids."
- Zimmerman, Dean W., 1996a. "Indivisible Parts and Extended Objects: Some Philosophical Episodes from Topology’s Prehistory." Monist 79(1). 148–180.
- Zimmerman, Dean W., 1996b. "Could Extended Objects Be Made Out of Simple Parts? An Argument for 'Atomless Gunk'", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56: 1-29.
External links
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
adherent, adhesive, albumen, barnacle, batter, bonnyclabber, bramble, brier, bulldog, burr, butter, cab, cement, clabber, cornstarch, cream, curd, decal, decalcomania, dough, egg white, gaum, gel, gelatin, glair, glop, glue, gluten, goo, gook, goop, gruel, gumbo, jam, jell, jelly, leech, limpet, loblolly, mire, molasses, mucilage, muck, mucus, ooze, pap, paste, plaster, porridge, prickle, pudding, pulp, puree, putty, remora, rob, scum, semifluid, semiliquid, size, slab, slime, slob, slop, slosh, sludge, slush, soup, splosh, starch, sticker, sticky mess, syrup, thorn, treacle