Persistence and spacetime

"Dìscussions of persistence have tended to presume a prerelativistic conception of space and time, but it has become increasingly clear that this just won't do. Persistence and Spacetime is a wonderful example of how metaphysics and physics can combine forces to teach us the nature of spacetime and its denizens.'Theodore Sider. New York University" "Bàlashov offers a powerful and sophisticated set of arguments from relativistic physics to a four-dimensionalist metaphysics of persisting objects. The book is extremely lucid, fair, and original throughout. It also contains an exceptionally clear and reader-friendly introduction to the relevant chunks of physics, so newcomers to relativity theory should find it accessible and engaging. Anyone with an interest in the metaphysics of material objects must come to terms with Balashov's arguments. Persistence and Spacetime is likely to be a major source of ideas and fruitful debate for many years to come. Cody Gilmore, University of California Davis" "Material objects persist through time and survive change. How do they manage to do so? What are the underlying facts of persistence? Do objects persist by being ẁholly present' at all moments of time at which they exist? Or do they persist by having distinct'temporal segments' confined to the corresponding times? Are objects three-dimensional entities extended in space, but not in time? Or are they four dimensional spacetime ẁorms'? These are matters of intense debate, which is now driven by concerns about two major issues in fundamental ontology: parthood and location. It is in this context that broadly empirical considerations are increasingly brought to bear on the debate about persistence." "Persistence and Spacetime pursues this empirically based approach to the questions. Yuri Balashov begins by setting out majorrival views of persistence--endurance, perdurance, and exdurance--in a spacetime framework and proceeds to investigate the implications of Einstein's theory of relativity for the debate about persistence. His overall conclusion--that relativistic considerations favour four-dimensionalism over three-dimensionalism--is hardly surprising. It is, however anything but trivial. Contrary to a common misconception. there is no straighiforward argument from relativity to four-dimensionalism. The issues involved are complex and the debate is closely entangled with a number of other philosophical disputes, including those about the nature and ontology of time, parts and wholes, material constitution. causation and properties, and vagueness."--Jacket

Background and assumptions. Persistence and philosophy of time ; Atomism and composition ; Scope ; Some matters of methodology -- Persistence, location, and multilocation in spacetime. Endurance, perdurance, exdurance : some pictures ; More pictures ; Temporal modification and the "problem of temporary intrinsics" ; Persistence, location and multilocation in generic spacetime ; An alternative classification -- Classical and relativistic spacetime. Newtonian spacetime ; Neo-Newtonian (Galilean) spacetime ; Reference frames and coordinate systems ; Galilean transformations in spacetime ; Special relativistic spacetime ; Length contraction and time dilation ; Invariant properties of special relativistic spacetime -- Persisting objects in classical spacetime. Enduring, perduring, and exduring objects in Galilean spacetime ; The argument from vagueness ; From minimal D-fusions to temporal parts ; Motivating a sharp cutoff ; Some objections and replies ; Implications -- Persisting objects in Minkowski spacetime. Enduring, perduring, and exduring objects in Minkowski spacetime ; Flat and curved achronal regions in Minkowski spacetime ; Early reflections on persisting objects in Minkowski…