[Serious] Thomism: Then & Now

[Belacqua]

A substantial change to the whole does not require any substantial change in the parts. Try this. State A of the whole is that of a chair. State B of the whole is as a heap of wooden sticks. The Operation is when the chair becomes a heap. That "movement" from A to B does not mean that the wooden sticks must also undergo the further substantial change of rotting to dust. The substance, wooden stick, is a lower level composite with its own set of causes.

Tell me if this is too wacky:

Suppose you have an old chair you don't want anymore, and you decide to throw it away. At the moment you make the decision, it changes in its entirety from "useful piece of furniture" to "garbage," without undergoing any physical alteration. 

The operation is mental, perceptual. I don't know if this fits at all with what we're talking about.