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13 - Relativity

from PART III - TIMES AND WORLDS, OR TENSE AND MODALITY?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2012

A. A. Rini
Affiliation:
Massey University, Auckland
M. J. Cresswell
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
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Summary

In this chapter we shall examine the claim that presentism is incompatible with the special theory of relativity. We shall not so much be concerned with just how good it is as an argument against presentism, as merely to consider how it might impact on the world–time parallel. In discussions of this objection writers on both sides spend a lot of time setting out what they take the special theory of relativity to be. While this is important, it is in a sense subsidiary to our claim, which is not to take a stand on whether presentism is true or not, or even whether or not it is compatible with the special theory of relativity, but solely to investigate what a modal parallel would look like. We are not scientists, and are not making any claims about the physical structure of space and time. In fact we had better not be. The issue for semantics is not whether the special theory of relativity is correct or not, but rather what it is about the special theory of relativity which might contradict presentism, and how it might do so, and what an analogous modal example would look like. Some in the dispute seem to think it might be a contingent matter whether or not presentism is true (Crisp 2003, p. 215; Rea 2003, p. 248). At first sight this might seem an obvious disanalogy with actualism, since it hardly seems a contingent matter whether actualism is true.

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The World-Time Parallel
Tense and Modality in Logic and Metaphysics
, pp. 142 - 152
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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  • Relativity
  • A. A. Rini, Massey University, Auckland, M. J. Cresswell, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Book: The World-Time Parallel
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084215.015
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  • Relativity
  • A. A. Rini, Massey University, Auckland, M. J. Cresswell, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Book: The World-Time Parallel
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084215.015
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Relativity
  • A. A. Rini, Massey University, Auckland, M. J. Cresswell, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Book: The World-Time Parallel
  • Online publication: 05 March 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084215.015
Available formats
×