Presentism: past and future

Tallant, Jonathan; Ingram, David

Abstract

Let us begin with a quick primer of views in the philosophy of time. Consider an event that is past, such as Constantine being acclaimed Emperor at Eboracum, an event that is present, such as your reading of this paper, and an event that is future, such as humans establishing an outpost on Mars. Setting aside concerns about whether there exist events (in addition to, e.g., objects), philosophers of time disagree in several ways about the events under consideration. Some disagree about whether all three events exist. This is (part of) the dispute between presentists, eternalists, and no-futurists. Furthermore, some disagree about whether the events begin to exist or cease to exist. This is the dispute between transientists and permanentists. Finally, some disagree about whether events are absolutely or objectively present, rather than merely subjectively present or present only as a matter of perspective. This is (part of) the dispute between A theorists and B theorists…

Citation

Tallant, J., & Ingram, D. (2023). Presentism: past and future. In R. Lestienne, & P. A. Harris (Eds.), Time and Science. Volume 1: The Metaphysics of Time and Its Evolution (191-209). World Scientific. https://doi.org/10.1142/9781800613737_0007

• Online Publication Date: Jul 9, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 27, 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 18, 2024
• Publisher: World Scientific
• Pages: 191-209
• Book Title: Time and Science. Volume 1: The Metaphysics of Time and Its Evolution
• Chapter Number: 7
• ISBN: 978-1-80061-372-0
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1142/9781800613737_0007
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23472495
• Publisher URL: https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/9781800613737_0007