This workshop aims to reassess metaphysical explanations of persistence by looking at cases of stability rather than change. So far, debates in metaphysics on persistence have revolved around the question of how to reconcile persistence with change, given that change supposedly involves one and the same entity exemplifying incompatible properties. However, while qualitative change poses a challenge to persistence as it may lead to a contradiction, it is at least theoretically possible that an entity persists while maintaining a particular property. Even if other properties of said entity changed, this would constitute a case of partial qualitative stability. This kind of qualitative stability has been mostly ignored despite its important role for persistence. The human body needs to maintain a constant temperature in order to persist. Similarly, social systems often exist through a delicate balance of internal and external forces, and so do solar systems through a delicate balance of rotational energy and gravitational force. The workshop seeks to include such cases of (partial, qualitative) stability in the debate about persistence and to explore the prospects of harnessing the concept of stability for understanding persistence. Rethinking persistence in terms of stability will enrich contemporary metaphysics of persistence.

Speakers
Sophie Allen (Keele)
Rani Lill Anjum (Ås)
Florian Fischer (Siegen)
Dirk Franken (Heidelberg)
Niels Martens (Bonn)
Anne Sophie Meincke (Vienna)
Emanuel Viebahn (Berlin)
Neil E. Williams (Buffalo)

Coordination
Florian Fischer
Anne Sophie Meincke

Registration
Everybody is welcome to attend, but registration is required. To register, please send an email to ccm@uni-siegen.de. Please let us know whether you would like to participate live or virtually (via Zoom).