Theo Todman's Web Page - Paper Abstracts

Author's Abstract

• David Lewis famously introduces the debate over persistence as follows:
  Let us say that something persists iff, somehow or other, it exists at various times; this is the neutral word. Something perdures iff it persists by having different temporal parts, or stages, at different times, though no one part of it is wholly present at more than one time; whereas it endures iff it persists by being wholly present at more than one time. ("Lewis (David) - On the Plurality of Worlds", 1986: 202)
• This passage suggests that there are two different theories about how objects persist through time — the perdurantist theory that objects persist through time by having different temporal parts at different times, and the endurantist theory that objects persist through time by being wholly present at different times.
• This way of framing the debate over persistence involves both an important insight and an important error. Unfortunately, the error is often embraced and the insight is often ignored.
• This paper aims to correct both of these mistakes, and thus clarify the debate over persistence.