Abstract

This project investigates the ontology and identity of nations. Drawing from the thought experiment “The ship of Theseus” and some recent literatures on group metaphysics, I explore the domain of nations. There are two major enquiries: One, what is a nation? Second, how does a nation maintain its identity over time, despite all the changes it has undergone? I propose a perdurantist approach to understanding nations. I argue that a nation is a four-dimensional worm, which has stages as temporal parts. The stages have combinations of the people, the territory and the state as components. Social treatments are required to bind these stages together.