A Phasalist Approach to Coincidence Puzzles

Article Philosophy

Becoming a Statue

Justin Mooney

Summary: This article discusses the notorious coincidence puzzle of the statue and the piece of clay and proposes a simple but relatively neglected solution. The solution claims that the property of being a statue is a phase sortal property that the piece of clay instantiates temporarily. The author defends this view by reinforcing it with a novel counterpart-theoretic account of identity under a sortal and refutes standard objections. This proposal does not require complex theories such as colocation, four-dimensionalism, eliminativism, deflationism, or unorthodox theses about classical identity.

AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY (2023)

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Article Philosophy

The Matter of Coincidence

Justin Mooney

Summary: The phasalist solution suggests that being a statue is a phase property of the piece of clay, similar to being a child as a phase property of a human being. However, some philosophers doubt this explanation as it fails to account for cases where the statue appears to have parts that the clay does not. The author argues against this objection by discussing the properties of the clay, suggesting that it is not necessarily constant and can be flexible in terms of its parts.

PACIFIC PHILOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY (2023)

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Article Philosophy

Ordinary Parts and Their Complements: Together They Rise, Together They Fall

Eric Yang

Summary: This paper examines a defense of a recent solution to the Body-Minus problem, focusing on the worries of arbitrariness and its ineffectiveness against a revised version of the problem.

ERKENNTNIS (2023)

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Article Philosophy

Criteria of identity without sortals

Justin Mooney

Summary: This article discusses the criteria of identity over time for ordinary objects and argues that they are permanent members of certain specific kinds. It presents a criterion suited to phasalism, defending its superiority over non-phasalist rivals.

NOUS (2022)

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Article Philosophy