The Pros And Cons Of Perdurantism

Perdurantism is a solution to the problem of change which suggest that objects are four dimensional. Lewis would suggest that the objects have both temporal and spatial parts. While the spatial parts remain, the temporal parts can change. In other words, objects persist through time and change by having temporal parts. In an effort to understand why perdurantism exists, I will describe the circumstances leading to its creation, which will include a description of the elements of change and the problem of change. Then, I will provide a description of an objection to perdurantism. The aim of this paper is to strengthen objections against perdurantism as a viable solution to the problem persistence through time and change
Hinchliff suggests that there are four …show more content…
In other words, objects are the collection of all spatial and temporal parts. Parts can make up and influence the whole. Issues about perdurantism can be traced to general issues with four-dimensional theories. On one hand, temporal parts cause an issue in so far that they come in and out of existence. Koslicki provides an example of a space-time worms in order to illustrate an issue with Sider’s view of fusions. For example, imagine the life of a goldfish. In the beginning of its life, the goldfish exists, and is the first temporal part, then a moment later another temporal part takes its place. The first temporal part is then destroyed. This array of events will continue for as long as the goldfish persists. The goldfish persists even though there are temporal parts that are destroyed. There is no specific reason why the temporal part is destroyed and there is no explanation as to what the role of the spatial part of the object is. The temporal parts according to perdurantism cannot remain when there is change. There cannot be two temporal parts at one instance of an