This paper is going to have four key components to it. The first part is going to discuss the problem with persistence through time. The second section will discuss the stance that the four-dimensionalist's have in regards to persistence through time. The third section will discuss the enduranist's position on the topic. Lastly, the fourth and final section will be the side, which I take. .
The problem with the persistence of time is that change threatens to show that nothing can persist through time. Change is the main source as to why there is a debate about the persistence of time. A problem is whether, when an object changes its properties, if it is still the same object as it was before. For example, a candle after it burns, a person as they age, or a banana after it ripens. There is much debate to whether these objects are the same after time has elapsed and they have changed. .
The Indiscernibility of Identicals plays a major part in showing the problem with the persistence of time. The best way to describe the Indiscernibility of Identicals is by example. If object "a" is identical with object "b" for any property "p", "p" is a property of "a", if and only if "p" is a property of "b". Meaning if candle "a" is 5" tall, and candle "b" is five inches tall, they both have the property "p" of being 5" tall. Which means the property "p" of being 5" tall, is a property of candle "a", if and only if "p" is a property of candle "b". So if any shared property between two candles is altered, these objects are no longer the same. This also pertains to time, in that, if a candle was in existence yesterday, and that same candle is in existence today, is it still the same candle? There are two sides of the argument, the perdurantists and the endurantists. .
Let us take a closer look at the stance that the perdurantists take on the topic of persistence over time. Perdurantist, also four-dimensionalists, deny that it is possible for one and the same concrete particular to exist at different times, only parts of the object can exist at one time.
