The moving spotlight : an essay on time and ontology / Ross P. Cameron.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cameron, Ross P., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Time--Philosophy.

Time.

Presentism (Philosophy).

Ontology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (230 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Essay on time and ontology

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ross P. Cameron argues that the flow of time is a genuine feature of reality, and defends a version of the Moving Spotlight theory: the view that past and future beings are real, but there is nonetheless an objectively privileged present. He goes on to defend an account of the open future: what will happen is, as yet, undetermined.

Contents:

Introduction

I.1 The Plan for this Book

I.1.1 The Epistemic Problem

I.1.2 McTaggart's Paradox

I.1.3 Truthmaking

I.1.4 Relations between Present and Non-present Things

I.1.5 The Open Future

I.1.6 What Is It for the Present to be Privileged?

Chapter 1: From A-Theory to Presentism? Part 1: Epistemology

Chapter 2: From A-Theory to Presentism? Part 2: McTaggart's Paradox

Chapter 3: On Giving an Ontological Account of TenseChapter

4: The Moving Spotlight

Chapter 5: The Open Future

Conclusion

1: From A-Theory to Presentism? Part 1: Epistemology

1.1 A Skeptical Puzzle for Non-presentist A-Theories

1.2 Why, Given Strict Standards for Knowledge, the Problem Is just as Pressing for the Presentist

1.3 Why, Given Less Strict Standards for Knowledge, There Is a Solution for Presentist and Non-presentist Alike

1.4 In Praise of Something Higher than Knowledge, and Against Metaphysical Idlers

2: From A-Theory to Presentism?

Part 2: McTaggart's Paradox2.1 McTaggart's Argument for the Inconsistency of the A-Theory

2.2 Smith's McTaggart

2.3 Non-presentist A-Theories and McTaggart

2.4 Fine's Non-Standard Realisms

3: On Giving an Ontological Account of Tense

3.1 The Quine-Lewis-Sider Picture

3.2 The Truthmaker Alternative

3.3 On Giving an Ontological Underpinning

4.1 Goals and Assumptions

4.2 Against Lucretianism

4.3 Distributional Properties

4.4 Why We Need Non-present Entities

4.5 On Endurance

4.6 On History's not Changing

4.7 Meeting the Desiderata

4.8 Summary

4.8.1 Theses Concerning Truth and Existence

4.8.2 Theses Concerning Temporal Ontology

4.8.3 Theses Concerning Properties and Change

4.8.4 Theses Concerning Truthmaking and Determination

5: The Open Future

5.1 Openness and Ontology

5.2 Against Branching

5.3 Indeterminacy versus No Fact of the Matter

5.4 Two Kinds of Openness

5.5 Openness as Indeterminacy

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed August 14, 2015).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-102229-2

0-19-178172-X

0-19-102228-4

OCLC:

915560720