Change and Location: A New and Old Case against Functionality

In this paper, I shall discuss the question whether a concrete object can be multi-located while it is moving or not. I shall say nothing on the vexed issue of multi-location in and for itself. Instead, my discussion will support a ‘might’-conditional claim: ‘if multi-location were possible, then change might imply multi-location’. To do this, after a very short clarification of the various meanings of ‘to be located’, I will first present and discuss Diodorus’ arguments against the reality of motion, since they focus on the question of what the location of the moving item is, and then scrutinize Hegel’s reply to Diodorus’ reasonings, insofar as his answer consists in claiming that an object in motion is in many locations at once. This paper aims to explore the various metaphysical possibilities concerning the logic of location underlying change.