Literary notes about Permanence (AI summary)
The word "permanence" in literature serves as a multifaceted concept, employed to denote both abstract, eternal qualities and concrete, measurable states. Philosophers like Kant [1] and Schopenhauer [2] use it to distinguish between experiential constancy and metaphysical substance, suggesting that what we perceive is more a function of our experience than an inherent attribute. In contrast, literary figures such as Hawthorne [3] and Montgomery [4] use the term to highlight essential, yet sometimes fragile, qualities within human nature and relationships. Meanwhile, sociologists and historians [5, 6, 7] invoke permanence to discuss the enduring stability of social structures and traditions, and even in more personal or ephemeral contexts—as seen in discussions of art and emotion [8, 9]—the term oscillates between representing immutable truths and degrees of likelihood. This palette of usages illustrates the word's versatility in capturing the tension between lasting essence and the mutable, often transient, conditions of life.