I will examine whether metaphysics can be expanded to include change as a fundamental property of being. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the most general and abstract concepts, such as existence, being, reality, and truth. Traditionally, it has been concerned with understanding the nature of the universe and the relationship between humans and the world around them. It seeks to answer questions about what exists, why things exist, how they exist, and what their properties are. In contemporary philosophy, there have been significant debates about whether change is an essential feature of being or merely a contingent one. The question of whether change should be included in metaphysics has important implications for ontology, epistemology, ethics, and other philosophical disciplines. In order to answer this question, I will explore different theories of change and their implications for metaphysics.
I will argue that change must be considered a fundamental aspect of being if we want to understand the complexity and dynamism of the world we live in.
The debate about the nature of change dates back to ancient Greek philosophy. Aristotle believed that change was simply the act of becoming something else, while Plato argued that change involved the destruction of one thing and the creation of another. Since then, various theories have been proposed to explain change, including process philosophy, which views it as an intrinsic feature of reality, and dispositionalism, which sees change as a matter of potentiality. More recently, some philosophers have suggested that change is not just an accidental property but an essential one.
David Lewis argues that change is a necessary condition of being because otherwise we could not make sense of causality or identity over time.
Others argue that change is an illusion or a byproduct of our perceptions. Therefore, there is still no consensus among philosophers on whether change is truly fundamental to being.
To include change in metaphysics, we need to define what exactly it means to say that something changes. One way to do so is through the concept of becoming, which refers to how things transform from one state into another. Becoming involves both physical and mental states, such as growth, decay, and evolution. It can also refer to social and cultural phenomena, such as political movements or technological advancements. Another approach is to think of change as a process rather than an event, whereby things undergo gradual transformations over time. Processes are complex and dynamic, involving multiple factors such as cause and effect, causation, and interaction between entities. This perspective is particularly important for understanding the emergence of new properties and structures within systems.
Including change in metaphysics has significant implications for ontology. If everything is constantly changing, then we must rethink what it means to be something or someone. We cannot rely solely on permanent essences or fixed identities but instead recognize the fluidity and contingency of reality. This view challenges traditional conceptions of substance theory, which posits that everything has a stable core essence that remains constant throughout its existence. Instead, we might adopt a relational view of existence, wherein being depends on relationships and interactions with other entities.
Including change would require us to consider temporal aspects of reality beyond just spatial ones, such as duration, succession, and succession. These concepts have important ramifications for ethics and politics since they suggest that the world is not static but ever-changing and unpredictable.
I argue that change should be included in metaphysics because it is essential to our understanding of the world around us. Without recognizing change, we risk reducing reality to a static and lifeless state.
This does not mean that change should be seen as the only property of being. Rather, it should be understood alongside other fundamental features like substance, identity, causality, and possibility. By doing so, we can develop a more nuanced and holistic approach to philosophy that takes into account the complexity and dynamism of the universe.
Can metaphysics evolve to include change as a fundamental property of being?
Metaphysics is defined as the study of the nature of reality, including both physical objects and abstract concepts such as time and space. The idea of change has been a central concern for philosophers since ancient times, but it remains an elusive concept that raises many questions about how we should conceive of the world around us.