THE UNITY OF IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE AS THE ...

The second and third moments distinguish genuine change from that which is
merely apparent. The second moment is the moment of identity. In genuine change,
something persists through the process. If nothing persisted through the change, then
everything prior to the change would cease to exist, and everything after the change
would have simply come into existence. If nothing persisted through the change, then
everything prior to the change would be annihilated, and everything after the change
would be created. So the moment of persistence or identity distinguishes genuine change
from annihilation and creation.
Genuine change requires a third moment, the moment of unity. Without the
third moment, we cannot fully distinguish genuine change from creation and annihilation.
In order to grasp the necessity of the third moment, it will be helpful to label the features
described in the first two moments. We’ll designate that which persists as “P,” and the
different states that define the change as “S1” and “S2.” Thus we can describe the
change as a transformation of P-S1 to P-S2. We can illustrate this with a particular
example such as the change that occurs when water is heated. In this example, “P”
designates the water, which persists through the change. The same (identical) water
exists before and after the change. In this example, “S1” designates the coldness of the
water before the change, and “S2” designates the warmth of the water after the change.
Thus the change consists in the movement from, “the water is cold,” to “the water is
warm.”
On one interpretation, the process that moves from P-S1 to P-S2 does not involve
genuine change. On this interpretation, the process involves one thing that remains
unchanged (P), one thing that is annihilated (S1), and one thing that is created (S2). Or,
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