Reply to Stone on counterpart theory and four-dimensionalism


Συγγραφέας: Antony Eagle


Antony Eagle: Reply to Stone on counterpart theory and four-dimensionalism (pdf, 4 pages)
In a recent article, Jim Stone argues that counterpart theory and fourdimensionalism are incompatible (Stone 2005). His arguments carry no obvious weight against the stage view defended by Sider (2001). Nor do they undermine the more vulnerable combination of the worm view and counterpart theory – or so I shall argue. Stone considers a space-time worm A which is a bronze statue of a unicorn throughout its entire existence, from t1 to t10 (scenario I). Since the bronze could survive being melted down while the statue could not, there is a (distinct) situation (scenario II), where A is melted down, and recast at t11. Stone claims that in II A both does and does not have more temporal parts than it has in scenario I, in virtue of the bronze counterparts of A surviving but the statue-shaped counterparts of A failing to survive. As it stands, this argument is invalid: if eternalism is true, the bronze in scenario II is not identical to A, since it is true throughout II that the...