Category: Time and Change
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A-Eternalism and B-Eternalism
In an earlier thread, I raised the following problem for eternalism: Long ago, in ancient Rome's Coliseum, gladiatorial battles took place. No one will say that such battles are still going on, or that any such battles are occurring at present. But if eternalism is true, and a past gladiatorial battle is as real/existent as…
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John Bigelow’s Lucretian Defense of Presentism, Part I, Set-Up
What follows in two parts is a critique of John Bigelow's Presentism and Properties. This installment is Part One. Bigelow begins by telling us that he is a presentist: "nothing exists which is not present." (35) He goes on to say that this was believed by everyone, including philosophers, until the 19th century. But this…
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The Ersatz Eternity of the Past
Denied by Lukasiewicz! Top o' the Stack. What Lukasiewicz might have said to Leśniewski: Logically, we are poles apart!
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From the B-Theory to Eternalism
Temporal dynamism denied! Substack latest. Tangentially related to the question whether Joe Dementia lied when he promised not to pardon his worthless son.
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A ‘Temporal’ Argument Against Race Change
The following excerpt is 'cannibalized' from my Substack article, Can One Change One's Race? ………………… Can I change my race? No. I can no more change my race than I can change the fact that I was born in California. I might have been born elsewhere, of course, but as a matter of contingent fact,…
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Closer to the Grave, Farther from Birth
Top o' the Stack. Wherein I ruminate upon the curious modality, necessitas per accidens.
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The Ersatz Eternity of the Past: Denied by Lukasiewicz!
The Pole denies the actuality of the past and in consequence thereof the ersatz eternity or accidental necessity (necessitas per accidens) of the past. Quasi-literary Preamble: What has been, though it needn't have been, always will have been. What time has mothered, no future time can destroy. What you were and that you were stand forever…
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A Mistake of Memory
Top o' the Stack. Presentism questioned.
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How to Write a Good Comment
I offer a comment of mine as an example. It is a brief response to a Substack entry by Elliot Crozat. Here is the comment: Very nice post, Elliot. Your reconstruction is valid. You say that (2) is "solid." It is, but it is not self-evident. For one epistemically possible view is that the dead…
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A Mistake of Memory
One mistake we sometimes make is to confuse a memory of a decision to do something with a memory of having done it. "I thought I did that! No, my man, you merely thought of doing it." One morning I wasted time searching for an article I had printed out the day before. But I…
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False Memory
Yesterday I intended to print a document, loaded the paper tray, and then got sidetracked by a phone call. I forgot about the print job. This morning I falsely remembered having printed the document and then wasted time searching for it. What philosophical juice might one squeeze from this lemon? 1) Not all memories could…
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Existence, Time, Property-Possession, and the Dead
Here are four propositions that are individually plausible but collectively inconsistent. 1) For any x, temporal or atemporal, if x has a property, then x exists. 2) For any temporal x, if x exists, then x exists at present. 3) Frege, a temporal item, does not exist at present. 4) Frege has properties at present.…
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Memory and Existence: An Aporetic Tetrad
Try this foursome on for size: 1) Memory is a source of knowledge. 2) Whatever is known, exists. 3) Memory includes memory of wholly past individuals and events. 4) Whatever exists, is temporally present. The limbs of the tetrad are collectively inconsistent: they cannot all be true. To appreciate the logical inconsistency, note that 'exists'…