SNAP and SPAN

1. SNAP and SPAN Barry Smith and Pierre Grenon University at Buffalo and ifomis.de University of Leipzig

2. Fourdimensionalism • – time is just another dimension, analogous to the three spatial dimensions • – only processes exist • – substances are analyzed away as worms/fibers within the four-dimensional process plenum

3. There are no substances • Bill Clinton does not exist • Rather: there exists within the four-dimensional plenum a continuous succession of processes which are similar in Billclintonizing way

4. a c b a a: scattered part b: temporal slice c: boundary Parts of processes (1)

5. a: sub-process b: phase a b Parts of processes (2)

6. There is no change • That the water boils means: • Not: the water is colder at one time and hotter at another time • Rather: that one phase of the boiling process is cold and another hot • as one part of a colored ribbon is red and another blue

7. The Parable of Little Tommy’s Christmas Present

8. Reductionism • a sort of adolescent rebellion • a product of physics envy • we must simplify reality for the sake of the software

9. Confession • Some of my best friends are fourdimensionalists • Fourdimensionalism is right in everything it says • But incomplete

10. Realist Perspectivalism There is a multiplicity of ontological perspectives on reality, all equally veridical = transparent to reality e.g. perspectives at different granularities

11. Need for different perspectives • Not one ontology, but a multiplicity of complementary ontologies • Cf. Quantum mechanics: particle vs. wave ontologies

12. Two Orthogonal, Complementary Perspectives SNAP and SPAN

13. t i m e process Substances and processesexist in time in different ways substance

14. t i m e process Snapshot Video ontology ontology substance

15. SNAP and SPAN • Substances and processes • Continuants and occurrents • In preparing an inventory of reality • we keep track of these two different categories of entities in two different ways

16. SNAP and SPAN • stocks and flows • commodities and services • product and process • anatomy and physiology

17. SNAP and SPAN • lobster and growth • nation and history • population and migration • ocean and tide

18. SNAP and SPAN • SNAP entities • - have continuous existence in time • - preserve their identity through change • - exist in toto if they exist at all • SPAN entities • - have temporal parts • - unfold themselves phase by phase • - exist only in their phases/stages

19. SNAP vs. SPAN • SNAP: a SNAPshot ontology of endurants existing at a time • SPAN: a four-dimensionalist ontology of processes

20. SNAP vs. SPAN • Substances vs. their lives

21. You are a substance • Your life is a process • You are 3-dimensional • Your life is 4-dimensional

22. Change • Adding SNAP to the fourdimensionalist perspective makes it possible to recognize the existence of change • (SNAP entities are that which endure, providing identity through change) • SNAP also provides a perspective point from which SPAN processes can be apprehended as changes

23. Substances do not have temporal parts • The first 5-minute phase of my existence is not a temporal part of me • It is a temporal part of that complex process which is my life

24. How do you know whether an entity is SNAP or SPAN?

25. Three kinds of SNAP entities • Substances • SPQR… entities • Spatial regions, contexts, niches, environments

26. SPQR… entities • States, powers, qualities, roles …

27. Other SPQR… entities: • functions, dispositions, plans, shapes • SPQR… entities are all dependent on substances • relations

28. Spatial regions, niches, environments • Organisms evolve into environments • Island biogeography • Atomic physics • Cell biology

29. includes everything which exists at the corresponding now each SNAP section through reality

30. Many SNAP Ontologies t3 t2 t1 here time exists outside the ontology, as an index or time-stamp

31. t i m e The SPAN Ontology

32. The SPAN ontology here time exists as part of the domain of the ontology

33. SNAP ontology • many sharp boundaries • SPAN ontology • many smeered boundaries

34. SNAP entities • provide the principles of individuation/segmentation for SPAN entities • No change without some THING or QUALITY which changes • identity-based change research

35. Ontology of War • need both continuants (army, battle-group , materiel, morale, readiness, battlespace …) • and occurrents (manoeuvre, campaign, supply, trajectory, death …)

36. invasion t i m e Battalion moves from A to B

37. SNAP and SPAN ontologies are partial only Each is a window on that dimension of reality which is visible through the given ontology (… Patrick Hayes …) • (Realist perspectivalism)

38. SNAP: Entities existing in toto at a time

39. Three kinds of SNAP entities • Substances • SPQR… entities • Spatial regions, Contexts, Niches

42. SNAP

43. SPAN: Entities extended in time

44. SPAN: Entities extended in time

45. SPAN: Entities extended in time

46. 3-dimensional and 4-dimensional environments • Lobsters have evolved into environments marked by cyclical patterns of temperature change

47. Relations between SNAP and SPAN SNAP-entities participate in processes; they have lives, histories.

48. SPQR… entities and their SPAN realizations • the expression of a function • the exercise of a role • the execution of a plan • the realization of a disposition • the application of a therapy • the course of a disease

49. SNAP SPQR… entities and their SPAN realizations • function • role • plan • disposition • therapy • disease

50. SPQR… entities and their SPAN realizations • expression • exercise • execution • realization • application • course SPAN