Argument from perpetual identity against naturalism.

[Neo-Scholastic]

...take the example of the ship, while it would be correct to say that its identity is changing continuously due to the passage of time, such changes are minor. So we regard certain main features of the ship as its identifying features and consider any new changes as being continuously integrated into its identity.

You mention identifying features. How do you identify features unless those features already exist awaiting to be identified? Or to put it another way, how can humans recognize patterns unless the patterns already exist?