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Single Idea 14611

[from 'The Tenseless Theory of Time' by J.J.C. Smart, in 1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 1. Nature of Metaphysics ]

Full Idea

Metaphysics should not be cosmically parochial. It should eschew tensed languages.

Gist of Idea

Metaphysics should avoid talk of past, present or future

Source

J.J.C. Smart (The Tenseless Theory of Time [2008], 1)

Book Reference

'Contemporary Debates in Metaphysics', ed/tr. Sider/Hawthorne/Zimmerman [Blackwell 2008], p.227


A Reaction

This is quite an engaging reason to be an eternalist (or B-theorist) about time. Presumably we can still believe in tensed time, as long as we recognise that metaphysics itself is a timeless subject.