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There's No Time Like the Present (in Minkowski Spacetime)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Steven F. Savitt
Steven F. Savitt*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6T 1Z1; e-mail: savitt@interchange.ubc.ca.
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Abstract

Mark Hinchliff concludes a recent paper, “The Puzzle of Change,” with a section entitled “Is the Presentist Refuted by the Special Theory of Relativity?” His answer is “no.”

I respond by arguing that presentists face great difficulties in merely stating their position in Minkowski spacetime. I round up some likely candidates for the job and exhibit their deficiencies.

Type
Philosophy of Physics and Chemistry
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Sep., 2000 , 2000 , pp. S563 - S574
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I am greatly indebted to Paul Bartha, John Collier, Mark Hinchliff, Paul Jeffries, and Simon Saunders for helpful suggestions and comments. I am grateful to the UBC Hampton Fund for their support of this research.

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