more from Cynthia Macdonald

Single Idea 7940

[catalogued under 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 2. Substance / e. Substance critique]

Full Idea

Maybe a substance is not itself a bundle of properties, but a sum or sequence of bundles of properties, a bundle of bundles of properties (which 'perdures' rather than 'endures').

Clarification

To 'perdure' is to have temporal parts, rather than fixed unity over time

Gist of Idea

A substance might be a sequence of bundles, rather than a single bundle

Source

Cynthia Macdonald (Varieties of Things [2005], Ch.3)

Book Reference

Macdonald,Cynthia: 'Varieties of Things' [Blackwell 2005], p.104


A Reaction

There remains the problem of deciding when the bundle has drifted too far away from the original to perdure correctly. A caterpillar can turn into a butterfly (which is pretty bizarre!), but not into a cathedral. Why? She says this idea denies change.