Weeks 9-10: Presentism

Dear all, this Friday I would like to conclude the issue of Time and Modality. As you probably already know, we shall have a double session this week (as Marco is not going to be around). In the second part of the class we'll talk about various forms of Presentism. I shall discuss an argument by Williamson to the effect that all contingent being exist necessarily (see further readings). I shall use this argument as a conceptual scaffolding for our discussion of presentism, so it is not strictly required that you read the paper (although I highly recommend it).  

Essential Readings

Markosian - A defence of Presentism

Mozersky - Presentism (ch. 5)



Further Readings 

Prior - Time and Modality

Sider - Quantifiers and Temporal Ontology

Williamson - Necessary Existents

Zimmerman - Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism

Week 8: Time and Modality

Dear all, this coming week we'll discuss the relationship between time and modality. There are two essential readings. One is a classic by Prior, Changes in Things and Changes in Events. The other is a paper by Ulrich Meyer on the relationship between the logics of time and modality. For a super-concise introduction to tense logic, see paragraph 7.3 of Sider's Logic for Philosophy (for an intro to modal logic see ch. 6 of the same book).


Essential Readings

Prior - Changes in Things and Changes in Events (ch. 1)

Meyer - Tense and Modality (ch. 4)

Sider - Propositional Tense Logic (parag. 7.3)

Further Readings

Crisp - Presentism and the Grounding Objection

Prior - Past, Present and Future (ch. 1)