Persistence and Spacetime

Material objects persist through time and survive change. How do they manage to do so? What are the underlying facts of persistence? Do objects persist by being "wholly present" at all moments of time at which they exist? Or do they persist by having distinct "temporal segments" confined to the corresponding times? Are objects three-dimensional entities extended in space, but not in time? Or are they four-dimensional spacetime "worms"? These are matters of intense debate, which is now driven by concerns about two major issues in fundamental ontology: parthood and location. It is in this context that broadly empirical considerations are increasingly brought to bear on the debate about persistence. Persistence and Spacetime pursues this empirically based approach to the questions. Yuri Balashov begins by setting out major rival views of persistence -- endurance, perdurance, and exdurance -- in a spacetime framework and proceeds to investigate the implications of Einstein's theory of relativity for the debate about persistence. His overall conclusion -- that relativistic considerations favour four-dimensionalism over three-dimensionalism -- is hardly surprising. It is, however, anything but trivial. Contrary to a common misconception, there is no straightforward argument from relativity to four-dimensionalism. The issues involved are complex, and the debate is closely entangled with a number of other philosophical disputes, including those about the nature and ontology of time, parts and wholes, material constitution, causation and properties, and vagueness.

Table of Contents:
1. Background and Assumptions ; 2. Persistence, Location and Multilocation in Spacetime ; 3. Classical and Relativistic Spacetime ; 4. Persisting Objects in Classical Spacetime ; 5. Persisting Objects in Minkowski Spacetime ; 6. Coexistence in Spacetime ; 7. Strange Coexistence? ; 8. Shapes and Other Arrangements in Minkowski Spacetime ; References

About the Author :
Yuri Balashov is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Georgia, US. His current interests are in analytic ontology and philosophy of time. He has published extensively in major philosophy journals, such as Noûs, Philosophical Studies, American Philosophical Quarterly, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Quarterly, The Monist, and British Journal for the Philosophy of Science and is a co-editor of Einstein Studies in Russia (Birkhäuser, 2002) and Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings (Routledge, 2002).

Review :
Persistence and Spacetime is a wonderful example of how metaphysics and physics can combine forces to teach us the nature of spacetime and its denizens. a powerful and sophisticated set of arguments from relativistic physics to a four-dimensionalist metaphysics of persisting objects. The book is extremely lucid, fair, and original throughout. It also contains an exceptionally clear and reader-friendly introduction to the relevant chunks of physics, so new-comers to relativity theory should find it accessible and engaging. Anyone with an interest in the metaphysics of material objects must come to terms with Balashov's arguments. Persistence and Spacetime is likely to be a major source of ideas and fruitful debate for many years to come. Balashov's engagement with both physics and metaphysics provides a model for how ontological enquiry ought to proceed. a great resource for graduate seminars and for those working on persistence. a great source of insights into the relation among science, common sense and philosophy ... Balashov has set the agenda of the persistence debate.