Persistence without Essence

Jessica Leech

doi:10.1093/pq/pqae085

Persistence without Essence

Jessica Leech

Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Questions of persistence and change are central to metaphysics. There is almost always a role for sortal or essential properties to play in theories of persistence. But one might reasonably be suspicious of many of the claims about sortal properties and essential properties on which so many accounts of persistence conditions rest. The aim of this paper is to think through what persistence looks like if we don’t help ourselves to these assumptions. In so doing, we shall uncover a deep and difficult problem when it comes to identity facts and their relation to qualitative facts. Towards the end of the paper, I sketch a potential line of response that builds upon our seeming awareness of a genuinely persisting self.

Original language	English
Article number	pqae085
Journal	PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqae085
Publication status	Published - 13 Jul 2024

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10.1093/pq/pqae085Licence: CC BY

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Persistence without Essence

Abstract

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