Re: SUO: Metaphysics: a book report (long message)
On 9/6/01 09:56, "Pierluigi Miraglia" <miraglia@cyc.com> wrote:
>
> Hello. Since this is my first post, a self-introductory bit might be in
> order: I work at Cycorp as an ontologist; a good portion of my time is
> spent on 'temporal reasoning' issues. My training is as a philosopher of
> logic and language.
>
> Thanks for this stimulating report. A few comments below; apologies if
> these issues have been already addressed in the past (I joined only
> recently).
>
> On Wed, Sep 05, 2001 at 08:24:23PM -0700, Adam Pease wrote:
> ....
>> "Typical endurantists are what we might call presentists...only what exists
>> in the present really exists."
>
> Does Loux say much about the distinction between 'exists' and 'really
> exists'?
I think Adam misread what Loux said. The typical endurantist stand is that
anything which exists, exists wholly at each time it exists. E.g., I
existed when I was born, and I exist now, and I am that *same* thing as the
thing that was born.
I think Adam must have been talking about tensed time or something.
>> "Perdurantists [assert that] ... all times, all things existing at those
>> time...are equally real."
>>
>
> Including things that may exist only in possible futures? Are these
> considered at all? It seems that it would be coherent, from a
> perdurantist standpoint, to say that there is a 'space-time worm',
> somewhere in the 4d continuum, would have been my brother, if only the
> chain of time points corresponding to the actual development of the world
> had gone through that 'forgotten' region.
You're right - I think you have to go to Counterpart Theory to account for
modality in 4D.
..bill
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Bill Andersen
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