Temporal Parity and the Problem of Change
SATS 2 (2):60-79 (2001)
Abstract
I discuss the general form of arguments that profess to prove that the
view that things endure in tensed time through causally produced
change (the dynamic view) must be false because it involves
contradictions. I argue that these arguments implicitly presuppose what
has been called the temporal parity thesis, i.e. that all moments of
time are equally existent and real, and that this thesis must be
understood as the denial of the dynamic view. When this implicit premise
is made explicit, the arguments turn out to be either circular, they
presuppose what they profess to prove, or mere demonstrations of the
fact that the dynamic view is incompatible with its own negation.
Furthermore, I discuss the metaphysical consequences of accepting
the temporal parity thesis, arguing that it deprives us of the means to
provide natural explanations to empirical phenomena.
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INGTPA-3
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2014-01-09
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21 ( #33,557 of 58,190 )
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