Philosophy Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [change]

24 questions
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Is Heraclitus really a Mobilist?

I learned that Heraclitus stressed the importance of change and the ephemeral nature of things in the cosmos. However, it seems that Heraclitus refers to a "logos": The opening of Heraclitus' book refers to a “logos which holds forever.”[3] There…
Delforge
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How could being follow action?

Some philosophers have denied the philosophical axiom "Agere sequitur esse"* ("'To act' follows from 'to be'"). What reasons do they give for thinking that action precedes (logically? ontologically? temporally?) being? How can there be action…
Geremia
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Is all change movement?

Is there a change in the universe that cannot be reduced to movement? One counter-example should be enough. :) Heat is a type of change that was once thought to be qualitative, but is now realized to be quantitative, the movement of particles. So…
Olle Härstedt
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Does the act-potency distinction lead to Meinong's jungle?

The Aristotelian-Thomistic distinction of act-potency is, among other things, supposed to solve Parmenides' paradoxes of change. Since change requires something non-existent popping into existence ex nihilo (as far as I can tell, this is the case…
Adam Sharpe
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Question About Shoemaker's Thought Experiment (Time Without Change)

In his argument that time intervals can exist without change, Shoemaker gives us an interesting thought experiment. For those unfamiliar, here it is: Assume that an entire universe is divided into three parts -- A, B, and C. Every 3 years,…
N. Bar
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Is moral responsibility consistent from an ontological perspective of change?

Let a being be arbitrary, suppose that this being has the capacity to be morally responsible. (EDIT 2) Regardless of group morality, but assume this being is in a moral environment with no moral contradictions (at least a priori). (EDIT 3) I want to…
random_user
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Does time exist/is fundamental in such a scenario?

Suppose you have nothing, but only a thing X which doesn't change at all, is there time? How would you say how many seconds/units of time have passed when there is only the thing X i.e. static too, and not any reference (like speed of light is…
Siddharth Chakravarty
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Is process philosophy at odds with orthodox Christian theology?

Process philosophy regards change, as opposed to stasis, as the basis of reality. Does this contradict orthodox Christian theology, such as Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and the various Protestant denominations, or could the former be derived from the…
user43593
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Does Tegmark's hypothesis include dynamical mathematical structures?

Tegmark's hypothesis is the idea that mathematical structures are physical and thus have physical existence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_universe_hypothesis) Zuse's thesis says that the universe is fundamentally analogous to a…
Niein Ofinfo
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What exactly is the 'potential' that is actualized in Aristotelian metaphysics?

From my understanding, Aristotelian metaphysics uses the concepts of potentiality and actuality to explain change. Since being cannot come from non-being, when change occurs a potential is simply being actualized. However, what exactly is a…
Christian Dean
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What are the best arguments for the defense of the "principle of motion"?

How would someone (I would love to hear how Aquinas and/or Aristotle would) defend the principle of motion (that is, whatever is changed is changed by another or only actual being can actualize potency)? Could it be reduced to the principle of…
Thom
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can you rationally believe in an ever changing identity, but also believe that parts of us persevere?

Is it possible to rationally believe that certain aspects of the identity don't change, while still acknowledging the fact that we are not the same person we were an instant ago? In other words, is it possible to believe in an ever changing identity…
Tobias Ethercroft
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Kant's remarks about the concept of time and the principle of noncontradiction

In the Transcendental Aesthetic he notes: ... I shall add that the conception of change, and with it the conception of motion, as change of place, is possible only through and in the representation of time; that if this representation were not an…
Kristian Berry
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Time as a transition from a whole which is constitutable by each of many sets of parts to the set of parts that generates the shortest path?

Summary: Any entity E which is constituted by extrinsically indiscernible parts A and B remains extrinsically the same, in all stages of the change, even if A changes to B and B to A (concurrently). More generally, an entity E which is…
Morteza
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Is there a quantitative model of change?

I am trying to build a particular theory, and I am wondering if there is a quantitative formulation for how much an object has changed. For example, if an oak seed grows into an oak, how much has it changed? Any insight is appreciated.
Chidi
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