Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Group of One

The G8 met in Laquilla, Italy after Silvio Berlusconi moved them there in order to bring some much needed money to the region devastated by the recent earthquake.

Here at the Unpublishable Philosopher, I am starting the Group of One (G1), consisting of me (the UP). And I am hoping to have a meeting in my home to bring some much needed money to it, and, if there is enough left over, I will take it to Laquilla for a much-needed vacation.

This plan has run into a couple of logical snags. First, it is not clear that something can be a group if it consists of only one thing. Second, it is not clear that the group consisting of only one member is really distinct from that one member. But, I think, we can overcome these problems. First, a one-member group is a limit case of a group. A group with no members would be the Empty Group; a group with only one member is a Unit Group. So the G1 is a unit-group consisting only of me.
What's the difference between the G1 and the UP himself? Simple, the G1 is a group and the UP is not a group. A set is not identical to its members. Members make up the set, but they are not identical to it. So, if we understand groups as sets, then we have no problem with distinguishing the group from its sole member.

So, overcoming a minor concern about grammatical infelicity, I'm well-prepared to form the G1 and begin cashing in.

No comments:

Post a Comment