Single Idea 8281

[catalogued under 7. Existence / B. Change in Existence / 1. Nature of Change]

Full Idea

The extreme views on change are the Heraclitan view - that every change brings into existence an entirely new entity, and destroys what existed before, and the Spinozan view - that all changes are phase changes within a single substance.

Gist of Idea

Heraclitus says change is new creation, and Spinoza that it is just phases of the one substance

Source

E.J. Lowe (The Possibility of Metaphysics [1998], 8.2)

Book Reference

Lowe,E.J.: 'The Possibility of Metaphysics' [OUP 2001], p.179


A Reaction

The views in between are that bundles of properties shift their contents, or that many substances undergo changes in their properties. The unification of physics might be aiming to vindicate Spinoza. Temporal parts (Lewis) are close to Heraclitus.