The real price of the dead past: A reply to Forrest and to braddon-Mitchell
Analysis 65 (287):249–251 (2005)
| Abstract | Non-presentist A-theories of time (such as the growing block theory and the moving spotlight theory) seem unacceptable because they invite skepticism about whether one exists in the present. To avoid this absurd implication, Peter Forrest appeals to the "Past is Dead hypothesis," according to which only beings in the objective present are conscious. We know we're present because we know we're conscious, and only present beings can be conscious. I argue that the dead past hypothesis undercuts the main reason for preferring non-presentist A-theories to their presentist rivals, rivals which straightforwardly avoid skepticism about the present. | |||||||||
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Eric Olson (2009). The Passage of Time. In Robin Le Poidevin (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Metaphysics. Routledge.
Franklin Mason (2008). Presentism and the Special Theory. Philo 11 (1):19-49.
Alexander R. Pruss (forthcoming). The a-Theory of Time and Induction. Philosophical Studies.
Yuval Dolev (2008). Semantic Externalism and Presentism. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 16 (4):533 – 557.
Bradford Skow (2012). Why Does Time Pass? Noûs 46 (2):223-242.
Simon Prosser (2007). Could We Experience the Passage of Time? Ratio 20 (1):75-90.
Peter Forrest (2004). The Real but Dead Past: A Reply to Braddon-Mitchell. Analysis 64 (4):358–362.
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