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The Growing-Block: Just one thing after another?

Briggs, Rachael, Forbes, Graeme A. (2017) The Growing-Block: Just one thing after another? Philosophical Studies, 174 . pp. 927-943. ISSN 0031-8116. (doi:10.1007/s11098-016-0714-3) (KAR id:55844)

Abstract

In this article, we consider two independently appealing theories—the Growing-Block view and Humean Supervenience—and argue that at least one is false. The Growing-Block view is a theory about the nature of time. It says that (a) past and present things exist, while future things do not, and (b) the passage of time consists in new things coming into existence. Humean Supervenience is a theory about the nature of entities like laws, nomological possibility, counterfactuals, dispositions, causation, and chance. It says that none of these entities are fundamental, since if there were, this would entail the existence of irreducible necessary connections between matters of fact. Instead, these entities supervene on a fundamental, nonnomological “Humean mosaic” of property instances at spacetime points. We will further explain and motivate the Growing-Block view and Humean Supervenience in sections 2 and 3, but first, we turn to our master argument.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1007/s11098-016-0714-3
Additional information: This version is the authors' last version before acceptence.
Uncontrolled keywords: Humean supervenience, Philosophy of time, Growing Block view
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BD Speculative Philosophy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Depositing User: Graeme Forbes
Date Deposited: 07 Jun 2016 18:48 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 06:50 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/55844 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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