Re: SUO: Basics of Process and Event, 3D and 4D
Dear Matthew,
To answer your point about Whitehead, his position is even
more radical, but it is general enough to support both your
summary of the 4D position as well as Nicola's view of many
collocated individuals in the same spatiotemporal extent.
Whitehead was very concerned about the question of identity
over time of and space. His solution was to consider each
"actual occasion" to be newly created at every instant from
the "perishing" of the previous actual occasion.
The question of which "societies" of occasions are to be
considered as a single continuant would depend on which
"form of definiteness" you apply. With one selection of
form, you could consider an individual named Matthew West
to be "the same" from cradle to grave. But with a different
selection, you could consider little Matthew in the cradle
to be different from big Matthew on the SUO mailing list.
Nicola's multiplicities of collocated individuals could be
accommodated by selecting different "forms of definiteness"
to define a continuant of type Vase or a continuant of type
LumpOfClay. But by selecting a different form that is based
on spatiotemporal extent, the vase and the lump of clay
could be considered the same individual.
That is an example of the way a more general theory can
accommodate special cases such as the traditional 4D view
and Nicola's rather different version within a common
framework.
John
_____________________________________________________________
MW>4 dimensionalism as I learnt if from Chris Partridge, as I
>had confirmed by Pat Hayes and as stated in Ted Sider is
>founded on the following propositions.
>
>1. Existence is a manifold of 4 dimensions, 3 space and time.
>I.e. when I refer to things in the past they exist, and
>when talking about the world I stand outside time.
>
>2. Individuals extend in time as well as space and have
>temporal parts as well as spatial parts.
>
>3. When 2 individuals have the same spatio-temporal extent
>they are the same thing.
>
>It is still possible to go in different directions from there,
>but that foundation of what individuals are is shared.
>
>I am not familiar with Whitehead's writings on this matter, so
>I am not certain whether his foundations amount to the same
>thing. Item 3 is the one most at risk.
>
>Matthew West
>Principal Consultant
>Shell Information Technology International Limited
>Shell Centre, London SE1 7NA, United Kingdom
>
>Tel: +44 20 7934 4490 Other Tel: +44 7796 336538
>Email: matthew.west@shell.com
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