itselfremains

Itselfremains is a term used in contemporary discourse to denote the idea that an entity can undergo change while preserving its core identity. The phrase combines "itself" and "remains" to express persistence through transformation. It is not widely formalized in established philosophical canons but appears in online essays, thought experiments, and some speculative discussions.

The term is often deployed as a heuristic in debates about identity over time. In philosophy, itselfremains intersects with the classic problem of persistence and with debates between endurantism and perdurantism, offering a compact way to discuss whether essential properties endure as a thing evolves. In personal identity discussions, it provides a shorthand for cases where a person undergoes substantial change but continues as the same individual.

Beyond philosophy, itselfremains is used in literature and media studies to describe motifs where a character or object persists across changes in form, function, or context. In cognitive science and artificial intelligence, the label has been used informally to address questions of system continuity when algorithms or architectures are updated or replaced while maintaining continuity of function or “self.”

The term remains informal and context-dependent, without a formal lineage in major philosophical doctrine. Critics argue that it can be vague or context-sensitive, and care is needed to specify what counts as "the same" in any given scenario. Related concepts include persistence, identity over time, endurantism, and perdurantism.