Single Idea 16025

[catalogued under 9. Objects / E. Objects over Time / 1. Objects over Time]

Full Idea

If things really change, there can't literally be one thing before and after the change. However, if there isn't one thing before and after the change, then no thing has really undergone any change.

Gist of Idea

If things change they become different - but then no one thing undergoes the change!

Source

André Gallois (Identity over Time [2011], Intro)

Book Reference

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.1


A Reaction

[He cites Copi for this way of expressing the problem of identity through change] There is an obvious simple ambiguity about 'change' in ordinary English. A change of property isn't a change of object. Painting a red ball blue isn't swapping it.