Philosophy 205a: Change [under construction]
Contents
Introduction
Section n: Stasis and change
Section n: Entities subject to change
Section n: Modes of change
Section n: Orientations of change
Section n: Change and the individual
Section n: Change and groups
Section n: Change and the totality
Introductiom
The concept of change is clearly a very important one, yet philosophy has never come to grips with it in any very comprehensive or satisfactory way. The present essay is an attempt to work towards a synopsis of the concept of change.
Change is closely related to several other concepts, such as, identity, process, event, causation.
My use of G1, G2, and G3 refers to my metaphilosophical thesis that the central concepts in each of the subject matters of philosophy can be placed, non-arbitrarily, into three groups.
Section n: Stasis and change
G1: Stasis
Stasis is the complete absence of change. Since the phenomenon of change seems to be all-embracing, it is a most pertinent question whether there is anything to which the concept of stasis applies literally. It is difficult to resist being driven to the paradoxical conclusion that the only thing that never changes is the fact that there is constant change. Literal stasis seems to be yet another conceptual ideal or perfection - something that can be approached but never reached, begun but never completed.
We can get a better grip on the concept of stasis by considering that an individual is not a singularity. A singularity has no parts, an individual has parts. This is why the entity that has its being beneath the event-horizon of a 'black hole' is referred to as a singularity. At a singularity the inexorable and cumulative force of gravity has merged all parts, making them one. Presumably, a singularity is in literal stasis, or as nearly so as anything ever gets. It's true that physicists speak of singularities as growing in size, but this is purely an expansion of the event-horizon, beneath which (it it is conceivable that) there is no change.
But again we seem to be driven to a paradoxical conclusion. If the 'Big Bang' that initiated the Universe occurred at some all-embracing singularity, it must surely have involved a change in that singularity.
G2: Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the self-maintenece of a functioning system within those parameters within which it retains its functional integrity. The life of a living organism is a highly complex and delicate homeostatic balancing act.
G3: Change without stasis
When a living organism dies, it loses its own homeostasis and becomes entirely part of the homeostatic process of its environment. Even while it lived, it was, of course, part of that external homeostasis, but it also maintained its own homeostasis which was secondary to that external process.
Section n: Entities subject to change
G1: Individuals
As has already been noted in the previous section, individuals have parts. Individuals also have properties, the main sorts of which are outlined in Section n.
G2: Groups and species
A group is a plurality of individuals that have at least one property in common. A species is a group the members of which have a special (literally special) set of properties in common.
G3: The totality
The totality consists of all individuals and all groups.
Section n: Modes of change
Individuals, groups and the totality undergo change in virtue of their properties. There are three main sorts of properties:
G1: Qualities
G2: Relations
G3: Quantities
Section n: Change and the individual
There are seven ways in which an individual can change:
G1.1a: Internal qualitative change
An internal qualitative change in X is a change in the set of essential qualities of X, which is the set of qualities that make X the sort of thing it is. Thus a change in an individual's essential qualities makes it an individual of a different sort.
G1.1b: External qualitative change
An external qualitative change in X is a change in the accidental qualities of X, which are the qualities that make X the unique thing it is. Thus a change in the accidental qualities of an individual merely changes the way in which it is unique.
G1.2a: Internal relational change
An internal relational change in X is a change in the structure of X.
G1.2b: External relational change
There are three sorts of external relational change:
G1.2b.1: Comparative change
This is a change in the way in which an individual is similar to other individuals.
G1.2b.2: Contrastive change
This is a change in the way in which an individual is dissimilar to other individuals.
G1.2b.3: Locational change
This is a change in the location of an individual relative to other individuals.
G1.3 Intenal quantitative change
This is a change in the number of parts an individual has.
There is a concept of the external quantity of an individual, namely the number of things there are of that individual's sort. However, a change in this quantity is not a change in the individual.
G2: Change and the group
G2.1a: Internal qualitative change
This is a change in an essential quality of a group. It is a change that makes the group a group of a different sort. That is, if the group is a species, this sort of change makes it a different species.
G2.1b: External qualitative change
This is a change in the accidental qualities of a group. It is a change that makes the group unique in a new way.
G2a: Internal quantitative change
An internal quantitative change in a Group GX is a change in the number of members GX has.
G2b: External quantitative change
An external quantitative change regarding Group X is a change in the number of groups there are of X's sort.
Section n: Change and the individual
G1a: Internal qualitative change and the individual
An individual's internal qualities are its essential qualities, the qualities that make it the species of thing it is. For example, being a plane figure with just three strait sides and just three internal angles that total 180 degrees are the essential qualities of being a triangle.
A change in any one of these qualities is sufficient to render the figure a non-triangle.
Section n: Change and the totality
