2025 Theses Doctoral

Five-Dimensionalism

Artha, Lufie

This thesis articulates and defends five-dimensionalism.

Five-dimensionalism is a theory of modal persistence, i.e. of how objects persist across possible worlds. Five-dimensionalism is the view that ordinary objects are five-dimensional (5D) entities. Intuitively, 5D entities are sums of parts of different worlds; they are located at more than one possible world, but are not entirely located within any one world. In addition to the four familiar dimensions of length, breadth, depth, and time, modality (i.e. possibility and necessity) is treated like a 5th “dimension” of reality. Hence the name of our theory: “five-dimensionalism”.

The rivals of five-dimensionalism are Saul Kripke’s transworld identity theory and David Lewis’s modal counterpart theory, which are two of the most influential theories in contemporary analytic philosophy. Like its rivals, five-dimensionalism has wide implications in many branches of philosophy.

This thesis contributes 1. systematic clarifications of five-dimensionalism, 2. new definitions of 5D entities (by using the formal tools of mereology and location theory), 3. arguments for five-dimensionalism, 4. replies against objections, and 5. the first annotated bibliography that documents the history of five-dimensionalism.