Activity, Process, Continuant, Substance, Organism. (26th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wiggins, David
• Is Part Of: Philosophy. Volume 91:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 269
• Page End: 280
• Publication Date: 2016-01-26
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; 100
• DOI: 10.1017/S0031819115000637
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-8191

Abstract

Abstract: This paper is a response to the suggestion that processes provide a better framework for interpreting science, biological science especially, than do substances . The philosopher of substance is ill-prepared, it has been suggested, for the question 'how a combination of processes can maintain the appearance of stability and persistence in an entity that is fundamentally only a temporary eddy in a flux of change'. In response, I defend a plural ontology of process, activity, event and continuant, and show how a sortalist philosophy of substance that makes Hilary Putnam's distinction of 'realism' from 'metaphysical realism' can treat disputed questions concerning the identity and individuation of colonial siphonophores, slime moulds and plant-colonies.