Teaching & Learning Guide for: The Problem of Change

This guide accompanies the following article: Ryan Wasserman, ‘The Problem of Change’, Philosophy Compass 1/1 (2006): 1–10, doi: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2005.00012.x Author’s Introduction Our world is a world of change. Children are born and grow into adults. Material possessions rust and decay with age and ultimately perish. Yet scepticism about change is as old as philosophy itself. Heraclitus, for example, argued that nothing could survive the replacement of parts, so that it is impossible to step into the same river twice. Zeno argued that motion is paradoxical, so that nothing can alter its location. Parmenides and his followers went even further, arguing that the very concept of qualitative change is inconsistent. Change in any respect is impossible, they argued, as change requires difference and nothing differs from itself. Few today would accept the Eleatic conclusion that change is impossible. But the topic of change continues to be a source of much debate, as it brings together various issues that are central to metaphysics, language, and logic – including identity, persistence, time, tense, and temporal logic. Author Recommends Wasserman, Ryan. ‘The Problem of Change.’Philosophy Compass 1 (2006): 1–10. This article presents the problem of change and provides a brief survey of potential solutions. Haslanger, Sally. ‘Persistence Through Time.’The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics. Eds. M. Loux and D. Zimmerman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. This article presents the problem of change and provides a detailed survey of potential solutions. Heller, Mark. ‘Things Change.’Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (1992): 695–704. This article presents, explains, and defends the temporal parts solution to the problem of change. Hinchliff, Mark. ‘The Puzzle of Change.’Philosophical Perspectives 10 (1996): 119–36. This article presents, explains, and defends the presentist solution to the problem of change. Wasserman, Ryan. ‘The Argument from Temporary Intrinsics.’Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81 (2003): 413–19. This article presents, explains, and defends the relationist solution to the problem of change. Sider, Theodore. Four-Dimensionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. This book provides an introduction to various issues related to the problem of change, including the nature of time, tense, and persistence. Chapter 5 presents, explains, and defends the stage-view solution to the problem of change. Online Materials Change. URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/change/ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on change, by Chris Mortensen. Time. URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time/ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on time, by Ned Markosian. Temporal Parts. URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/temporal-parts/ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on temporal parts, by Katherine Hawley. Material Constitution. URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/material-constitution/ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on material constitution, by Ryan Wasserman. Persistence Bibliography. URL: http://tedsider.org/teaching/pp_bibliography.pdf A bibliography on change and related issues, by Theodore Sider. Sample Syllabus Books on Syllabus Rea, Michael. Material Constitution: A Reader. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997. Sider, Theodore. Four-Dimensionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. 2008. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. Week 1: Time and Tense Four-Dimensionalism, chapters 1 and 2. Markosian, Ned. ‘A Defence of Presentism.’Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, Volume 1. Ed. D. Zimmerman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: 47–82. In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 116-123. In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 124-129. Week 2: Time and Persistence Four-Dimensionalism, chapter 3. McGrath, Matthew. ‘Temporal Parts.’Philosophy Compass 2 (2007): 730–48. In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 265-267. Hawthorne, J, Scala, M., and Wasserman, R. ‘Recombination, Humean Supervenience, and Causal Constraints: An Argument for Temporal Parts?’Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, Volume 1. Ed. D. Zimmerman, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004: 301-318. Week 3: Change and Presentism In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 141-149. In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 267-269. In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 269-281. Week 4: Change and Temporal Parts Four-Dimensionalism, pp. 92–8. Heller, Mark. ‘Things Change.’Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 52 (1992): 695–704. Lombard, Lawrence. ‘The Doctrine of Temporal Parts and the “No Change” Objection.’Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 54 (1994): 365–72. Week 5: Change, Relationism, and Adverbialism Hawley, Katherine. ‘Why Temporary Properties are not Relations between Physical Objects and Times.’Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 98 (1998): 211–16. Wasserman, Ryan. ‘The Argument from Temporary Intrinsics.’Australasian Journal of Philosophy 81 (2003): 413–19. Lewis, David. ‘Tensing the Copula.’Mind 111 (2002): 1–13. Caplan, Ben. ‘Why so Tense about the Copula?’Mind 114 (2007): 703–8. Week 6: Change and Tropes Ehring, Douglas. ‘Lewis, Temporary Intrinsics and Momentary Tropes.’Analysis 57 (1997): 254–8. MacBride, Fraser. ‘Four New Ways to Change Your Shape.’Australasian Journal of Philosophy 79 (2001): 81–9. Simons, Peter. ‘On Being Spread Out in Time: Temporal Parts and the Problem of Change.’Existence and Explanation. Eds. W. Spohn, B.C. van Fraassen, and B. Skyrms. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1991: 131-147. Weeks 7 and 8: Special Topic – Material Change Four-Dimensionalism, chapter 5. Selections from Material Constitution: A Reader. Week 9: Special Topic – Change of Position In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 186-195. In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 195-215. Week 10: Special topic – Changing the Past In van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. Metaphysics: The Big Questions. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2008: 224-235. van Iwagen, Peter. ‘Changing the Past.’Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, Volume 5. Ed. D. Zimmerman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009: 1-22. Hudson, H. and Wasserman, R. ‘Van Inwagen on Time Travel and Changing the Past.’Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, Volume 5. Ed. D. Zimmerman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009: 41-49.