The Metaphysics of Time: A Dialogue

Bradley Dowden

doi:10.5771/9781442200593

Summary

Seventh in the New Dialogues in Philosophy series, this book discusses the concept of time and shows in the simplest ways how time informs discussions about causality, creation, physics, consciousness of time, and much more. Creating a series of conversations between two fictional characters, Bradley Dowden uses the characters to explore nine metaphysical issues involving time. Through the dialogue between his two protagonists, Dowden offers well-known arguments in the field of metaphysics for positions on such topics as the finite nature of time, absolute versus relational time, and Zeno's paradoxes of motion. The book draws on the theories of numerous philosophers, including Aristotle, Quine, Chrysippus, St. Augustine, Earman, Van Fraassen, Liebniz, and Hawking.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2009
Copyright Year: 2009
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7425-6030-7
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4422-0059-3
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 156
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
Chapter 01: Introduction No access Pages 1 - 12
Chapter 02: Fatalism, Free Will, and Foreknowledge No access Pages 13 - 26
Chapter 03: Mind, the Metric, and Conventionality No access Pages 27 - 46
Chapter 04: Time Travel and Backward Causation No access Pages 47 - 62
Chapter 05: Time’s Origin, and Relationism vs. Substantivalism No access Pages 63 - 82
Chapter 06: McTaggart, Tensed Facts, and Time’s Flow No access Pages 83 - 100
Chapter 07: Presentism, the Block Universe, and Perduring Objects No access Pages 101 - 118
Chapter 08: The Arrow of Time No access Pages 119 - 132
Chapter 09: Zeno’s Paradoxes and Supertasks No access Pages 133 - 148
Glossary No access Pages 149 - 154
About the Author No access Pages 155 - 156