Instruments of Unity: The Many Ways of Being One

许多事物如何汇聚成一个统一的实体？什么才是完整的？一个团体如何团结起来？我们如何将世界分割成最自然的单位？我们感觉到统一性无处不在：从蚁群到细胞自动机，从有机体到组织。然而，我们对它们统一所受的一般限制知之甚少。团结文书项目以一种提供具体、适用的答案的方式处理这一抽象问题。核心假设：统一是一个复杂的多元现象，需要多方面的理论方法。我们使用部分/整体理论、位置理论、定性维度、模态逻辑、图论、加权网络、拓扑学、数学形态学等工具，在各种形式设置中识别统一关系。总而言之：有很多方法可以做到这一点。该项目的目标包括：开创统一的新形式范式；开发一种测量理论的“自然性指南”；将该框架应用于形而上学中的问题，包括社会和形式本体论；甚至解决“元”问题--不同类型的统一是否存在统一。在此过程中，我们将恢复一种更全面的、以“雕刻”为基础的形而上学，而不是以简约主义“建筑”为基础的主导范式。该项目总部设在圣安德鲁斯大学的拱门中心，采用成熟的专家领导的合作研究方法，并由来自欧洲和美国的研究委员会提供建议，该项目在五年内分三个阶段进行。该团队(由PI、三名博士后和一名全额资助的博士生组成)将提供：在顶级期刊上发表的20多篇文章、一本研究专著、一篇开放获取的博士论文、一个小研讨会、一个大型会议、一个带注释的开源书目、一个可下载的参考数据库和可共享的信息图表，以促进非专家的知识交流。

How do many things come together into single unified entity? What is it to be whole? How is a group united? How do we carve the world into its most natural units? We perceive unities everywhere: from ant colonies to the cellular automata, from organisms to organisations. Yet we have little understanding about the general constraints by which they unified. The Instruments of Unity Project tackles this abstract question in a way that provides concrete applicable answers. The core hypothesis: unity is a complex pluralistic phenomenon, requiring a multifaceted theoretical approach. We identify unity relations across a variety of formal settings, using tools from part/whole theory, theories of location, qualitative dimensions, modal logics, graph theory, weighted networks, topology, mathematical morphology, and more. In sum: there are many ways to be one.The project goals include: pioneering novel formal paradigms for unity; developing a measurement-theoretic 'Guide for Naturalness'; applying the framework to problems in metaphysics, including social and formal ontologies; and even addressing the 'meta'-question of whether there's any unity to the different types of unity. Along the way, we will rehabilitate a more holistic 'carving'-based metaphysics over against the dominant reductionistic 'building'-based paradigm. Based in the Arché Centre at the University of St Andrews, using the proven method of expert-led collaborative research, and advised by a Board of researchers from Europe and the US, the project progresses over three phases in five years. The team (composed of the PI, three postdocs, and a fully-funded PhD student) will deliver: over twenty articles in top journals, a research monograph, an open-access PhD thesis, a small workshop, a major conference, an annotated open-source bibliography, a downloadable reference database, and shareable infographics to facilitate accessible knowledge exchange to non-experts.