Plural Slot Theory

Slot theory (Gilmore 2013) bears the full brunt of Fine’s (2000) symmetric completions and conflicting adicities problems. This chapter develops an alternative, plural slot theory (or pocket theory), which avoids these problems, key elements of which are first considered by Yi (1999). Like the slot theorist, the pocket theorist posits entities (pockets) in properties and relations that can be occupied. But unlike the slot theorist, the pocket theorist denies that at most one entity can occupy any one of them. As a result, she must also deny that the adicity of a property or relation is equal to the number of occupiable entities in it. By abandoning these theses, however, the pocket theorist is able to avoid Fine’s problems, resulting in a stronger theory about the internal structure of properties and relations.