Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2020
One argument for the moving spotlight theory is that it better explains our temporal phenomenology than does any static theory. In this paper it is argued that insofar as moving spotlight theorists take this to be a sound argument they ought embrace a new version of the moving spotlight theory according to which the moving spotlight is a cresting wave of causal efficacy. Hence a range of fundamental properties are temporary because presentness synchronically changesthe fundamental properties that are instantiated in the present moment, and our experiences of presentness co-varies with presentness, allowing us to phenomenologically detect presentness.
With thanks to Michael Duncan, James Norton, Naoyuki Kajimoto, Andrew Latham, Jonathan Tallant and Daniel Deasy for helpful comments on the paper.