The common challenges against 3D and 4D theories: Change and Persistence of Material Objects; a Paraconsistent Solution

Farsian, Kasra; Hodjati, Seyyed Mohammad Ali

doi:10.22091/jptr.2026.15933.3553

The common challenges against 3D and 4D theories: Change and Persistence of Material Objects; a Paraconsistent Solution

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ PhD student in Philosophy-Logic, Department of Philosophy and Logic, Humanities Faculty, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

² Department of Philosophy and Logic, Humanities Faculty, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22091/jptr.2026.15933.3553

Abstract

The idea that ordinary material objects can change while remaining the same might seem obvious at first. However, some philosophers disagree and find it problematic. There is a serious debate in the literature concerning this problem: “persistence through change (or time)”. In this debate, two rival camps are introduced, each arguing that its interpretation is better than the other's. This discussion can be formulated within two different metaphysical frameworks: three and four-dimensionalism. This paper, in two parts, attempts to show that this metaphysical debate has no champion and that another solution must be sought. The first part addresses the problems with the arguments on both sides of the debate by showing that neither three-dimensionalism nor four-dimensionalism provides a convincing response to certain criticisms. In short, 3Dists fail to explain “Persistence of changing things,” whereas 4Dists are involved in describing how things really “change”. The second part also aims to show that there are more fundamental problems behind this debate that make both approaches problematic. We reveal this fundamental problem by posing a version of the Sorites Paradox. Finally, we show that by using a second-order version of LP (Logic of Paradox), a solution is at hand.

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