Single Idea 14608

[catalogued under 27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / e. Tensed (A) series]

Full Idea

To be an A-theorist is to believe in some sort of objective distinction between what is present and past and future. ..To be a B-theorist is to deny the objectivity of our talk about past, present and future.

Gist of Idea

A-theorists, unlike B-theorists, believe some sort of objective distinction between past, present and future

Source

Dean W. Zimmerman (The Privileged Present: A-Theory [2008], 2)

Book Reference

'Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics', ed/tr. Sider/Hawthorne/Zimmerman [Blackwell 2008], p.212


A Reaction

The A/B distinction originates with McTaggart. All my intuitions side with the A-theory, certainly to the extent that the present seems to be objectively privileged in some way (despite special relativity).