 There is a complication that is raised by considering wholes that are composed of homogeneous parts. Boethius himself illustrates the problem with the example of a bronze rod, which he believes is a homogeneous substance (On Division 879d). Recall that if something is a homogeneous substance, then every part of that thing is also the same substance. That is, if y is a homogeneous whole and x is a part of y, the name and definition of y is also predicable of x. Every portion of bronze can take both the name and the definition of bronze, and hence, it seems that every part of the bronze rod meets the standard of being a subjective part. Therefore, it seems that the bronze rod is a universal, which is clearly absurd. 