How to Be a Presentist.
In the last 100 years, since Einstein published his special theory of relativity, the standard view among physicists and philosophers has been as follows: (a) physical reality is a 4-dimensional spatiotemporal manifold in which time is the fourth dimension, (b) past and future objects like dinosaurs...
Gespeichert in:
- 1. Verfasser:
- Format:
- Elektronisch E-Book
- Sprache:
- Englisch
- Veröffentlicht:
-
New York :
Oxford University Press, Incorporated,
2026.
- Ausgabe:
- 1st ed.
- Zusammenfassung:
-
In the last 100 years, since Einstein published his special theory of relativity, the standard view among physicists and philosophers has been as follows: (a) physical reality is a 4-dimensional spatiotemporal manifold in which time is the fourth dimension, (b) past and future objects like dinosaurs and Martian outposts exist in the same way that present objects like tables and rocks do, and (c) temporally distant regions of the 4-dimensional manifold (e.g., the Jurassic Period) are exactly analogous to spatially distant regions (e.g., the Outer Solar System). This book pushes back against this orthodox view and defends the commonsense view that (i) physical reality is a 3-dimensional spatial manifold, and (ii) past and future objects like dinosaurs and Martian outposts don't exist at all. In doing so, Mark Balaguer defends presentism--the view that only present objects exist and that there are no past or future objects.
- Umfang:
- 1 online resource (304 pages)
- ISBN:
- 9780197845745
- Bezugswerke:
-
Parallelausgabe: 9780197845714
- Links: