Social Groups and the Problem of Persistence through Change
Issue: Issue 19 • Author/s: Giulia Lasagni
Topics: Metaphysics, Ontology, Philosophy of Time, Theoretical philosophy
The persistence of social groups through change is a matter of debate in social ontology. While mereological approaches contend that social groups persist if formed by the same members, other accounts leaning towards structuralism find that what ensures the persistence of social groups is instead continuity of structure. The aim of this paper is to challenge the idea that a structuralist account is bound to hold that continuity of structure is necessary and sufficient condition for persistence. First, I consider membership changes. I argue that for structure-based metaphysics, not all…