more from Theodore Sider

Single Idea 14725

[catalogued under 27. Natural Reality / A. Classical Physics / 1. Mechanics / a. Explaining movement]

Full Idea

There is an alternative to the Russellian 'at-at' theory of motion, according to which dynamical quantities are intrinsic to times. Whether and how an object is moving at a time is a fact about what that object is like then.

Gist of Idea

Maybe motion is a dynamical quantity intrinsic to a thing at a particular time

Source

Theodore Sider (Four Dimensionalism [2001], 2.2)

Book Reference

Sider,Theodore: 'Four Dimensionalism' [OUP 2003], p.34


A Reaction

I think I find this quite appealing, because there is too much of a tendency to think of objects as passive and inert, with laws, forces, motions etc. imposed from the outside. But nature is active and dynamic. However, motion can't be wholly intrinsic.