Persistence and Spacetime

Balashov, Yuri

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199579921.001.0001

Cited by 51 publications

(25 citation statements)

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“…In Persistence and Spacetime, Balashov claims, "It is the universalist who has to convince the opponent that the opponent's appeal to firmly established results of science… is unmotivated" (Balashov [2010], p. 84). I have attempted to do exactly that.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Restricted Diachronic Composition and Special Relativity

Torre

2015

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

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When do objects at different times compose a further object? This is the question of diachronic composition. The universalist answers 'under any conditions whatsoever'. Others argue for restrictions on diachronic composition: composition occurs only when certain conditions are met. Recently some philosophers have argued that restrictions on diachronic compositions are motivated by our best physical theories. In Persistence and Spacetime and elsewhere, Yuri Balashov argues that diachronic compositions are restricted in terms of causal connections between object stages. In a recent paper, Nick Effingham ([2011]) argues that the standard objections to views that endorse restrictions on composition do not apply to a view that restricts composition according to compliance with the laws of nature. On the face of it, such restrictions on diachronic composition preserve our common sense ontology while eliminating from it scientifically revisionary objects that travel faster than the speed of light.I argue that these attempts to restrict diachronic composition by appealing to either causal or nomological constraints face insurmountable difficulties within the context of Special Relativity. I discuss how the universalist should best respond to Hudson's argument for superluminal objects and, in doing so, I present and defend a new sufficient condition for motion that does not entail that such objects are in superluminal motion. In stark contrast, the universalist claims that composition always occurs. The four legs and the tabletop compose a table and all current Romanian kindergarteners, Churchill's first cigar, and the southernmost Starbucks also compose a further object. In fact, for any plurality of objects that exists, there is an object that contains all and only those objects as parts. So, in addition to an ontology of tables, chairs and persons, the universalist is committed to an ontology containing innumerably-many scattered and gerrymandered objects.Restricted theories of composition deny that composition always occurs and also deny that composition never occurs. Some versions of restricted composition maintain that there are stateable informative conditions under which composition occurs, such as if the parts are in contact with one another, if they are arranged so as to give rise to a living organism, or if they are arranged so as to give rise to a conscious being. 2 Other restricted composition theorists, brutal compositionalists, grant that composition occurs sometimes, but not always, but deny that we can provide informative conditions under which composition occurs. 3 Brutal compositionalists might grant that the four legs and tabletop compose a table, but deny that there are any state-able conditions for why they do.It seems that one of the main reasons for adopting a restricted theory of composition is that it best accords with common sense: the restricted compositionalist can maintain that tables, chairs, and persons are cases where composition occurs but composition fails to occur in the case ...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While some may view such partial rejection of universalism as arbitrary, I submit that it simply follows the joints of nature (Balashov [2010], p. 88).…”

Section: Causal and Nomological Restrictions On Composition In A Relamentioning

confidence: 97%

Restricted Diachronic Composition and Special Relativity

Torre

2015

The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science

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“…In Balashov's (2013) perdurance concept of persistence, it is more like an unchanging 'worm' in the space-time manifold, a composite of many different slices of spacetime events. He uses the classic ladder-in-the-barn paradox of Special Relativity (SR) to argue that the notion that a persisting object (one that 'perdures') can have a 'temporal part' is meaningless.…”

Section: Arguments Against Persistence As An Illusion or A False Cognmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Illusory Flow and Passage of Time within Consciousness: A Multidisciplinary Analysis

Gruber

Smith

Block

2018

Timing Time Percept.

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Flow and passage of time puzzles were analyzed by first clarifying their roles in the current multidisciplinary understanding of time in consciousness. All terms ( flow, passage, happening, becoming) are carefully defined. Flow and passage are defined differently, the former involving the psychological aspects of time and the latter involving the evolving universe and associated new cerebral events. The concept of the flow of time (FOT) is deconstructed into two levels: (a) a lower level -a perceptual dynamic flux, or happening, or flow of events (not time); and (b) an upper level -a cognitive view of past/present/future in which the observer seems to move from one to the other. With increasing evidence that all perception is a discrete continuity provided by illusory perceptual completion, the lower-level FOT is essentially the result of perceptual completion. The brain conflates the expression flow (passage, for some) of time with experiences of perceptual completion. However, this is an illusory percept. Converging evidence on the upper-level FOT reveals it as a false cognition that has the illusory percept of object persistence as its prerequisite. To research this argument, an experiment that temporarily removes the experience of the lower-level FOT might be conducted. The claustrum of the brain (arguably the center of consciousness) should be intermittently stimulated to create a scenario of discrete observations (involving all the senses) with long interstimulus intervals of nonconsciousness and thereby no perceptual completion. Without perceptual completion, there should be no subjective experience of the lower-level FOT.

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“…8 We needn't utilize Eagle's terminology as there are alternatives which can play the same role. For instance, see Gilmore [2007] or Balashov [2010] for other contemporary analyses of location relations that could be employed here. 9 This aligns with the endurantist reply to the problem of temporary intrinsics [Lewis 1986: 202-5] developed by Lowe [1987aLowe [ , 1987b and defended by Lowe [2006, 2009]: they argue that changes in physical objects, e.g.…”

Section: Consequences For the Endurantistmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupy Wall: A Mereological Puzzle and the Burdens of Endurantism

Daniels

2013

Australasian Journal of Philosophy

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Endurantists have recently faced a mereological puzzle in various forms. Here I argue that, instead of presenting a genuine worry, the puzzle actually reveals a common misunderstanding about the endurantist ontology. Furthermore, through this discussion of the alleged problem and the misunderstanding which motivates it, I reveal metaphysical commitments the endurantist has that may not be widely recognized. For instance, she is committed to interesting and perhaps controversial views about shape and location. I highlight these commitments and what they mean for the endurantist.

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Persistence and Spacetime

Cited by 51 publications

References 0 publications

Restricted Diachronic Composition and Special Relativity

Restricted Diachronic Composition and Special Relativity

The Illusory Flow and Passage of Time within Consciousness: A Multidisciplinary Analysis

Occupy Wall: A Mereological Puzzle and the Burdens of Endurantism

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