ABSTRACT
Constitution and persistence are typically construed as non-causal phenomena. However, if the account of causation outlined in Chapter 4 is accepted, then it follows that the relationship between the constituents of compound objects, as they are described by the sciences, are causal in exactly the same way as the relationship between previously unconnected particulars are causal when they suddenly interact. The difference is that the interaction between the component parts of a unity produces not only a change, but also the preservation of a certain structure; they produce persistence. It is argued that this causal account of constitution and persistence provides support for Karen Bennett’s claim that some building relations are causal, and has a definite explanatory advantage over Kit Fine’s account of constitution in terms of the sui generis relation of ‘embodiment’.
