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Single Idea 14615

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / b. Rate of time ]

Full Idea

If it is said that time flows, then it seems that the question 'how fast does it flow?' is a devastating one for the A-theorist.

Gist of Idea

If time flows, then 'how fast does it flow?' is a tricky question

Source

J.J.C. Smart (The Tenseless Theory of Time [2008], 5)

Book Ref

'Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics', ed/tr. Sider/Hawthorne/Zimmerman [Blackwell 2008], p.235

A Reaction

This is one of the basic landmarks in any debate on time. Time can't be understood by analogy with anything else (such as a river) it seems.

The 18 ideas from J.J.C. Smart

17061 Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs [Smart]
17062 If scientific explanation is causal, that rules out mathematical explanation [Smart]
17063 Unlike Newton, Einstein's general theory explains the perihelion of Mercury [Smart]
17070 Coherence is consilience, simplicity, analogy, and fitting into a web of belief [Smart]
17072 We need comprehensiveness, as well as self-coherence [Smart]
17071 An explanation is better if it also explains phenomena from a different field [Smart]
17073 I simply reject evidence, if it is totally contrary to my web of belief [Smart]
17074 Explanations are bad by fitting badly with a web of beliefs, or fitting well into a bad web [Smart]
17075 Scientific explanation tends to reduce things to the unfamiliar (not the familiar) [Smart]
17076 Deducing from laws is one possible way to achieve a coherent explanation [Smart]
17077 The height of a flagpole could be fixed by its angle of shadow, but that would be very unusual [Smart]
17078 Universe expansion explains the red shift, but not vice versa [Smart]
22405 Negative utilitarianism implies that the world should be destroyed, to avoid future misery [Smart]
22404 Any group interested in ethics must surely have a sentiment of generalised benevolence [Smart]
14611 Metaphysics should avoid talk of past, present or future [Smart]
14614 The past, present, future and tenses of A-theory are too weird, and should be analysed indexically [Smart]
14613 Special relativity won't determine a preferred frame, but we can pick one externally [Smart]
14615 If time flows, then 'how fast does it flow?' is a tricky question [Smart]