The Question of Persistence

Abstract The debate about how objects persist is primarily structured by the opposition between perdurantism and endurantism. In the present paper, I argue that there is something wrong with this structuring of the debate. Assuming that the question at issue in this debate—which I call the question of persistence—is the question for the ground or metaphysical explanation of the persistence of objects, I argue that, on a proper understanding of the notion of persistence, neither endurantism nor perdurantism provides the required explanation. Proceeding from this result, I further elucidate the question of persistence and give an outline of two different ways it might be answered.