Single Idea 14409

[catalogued under 27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 1. Nature of Time / h. Presentism]

Full Idea

I am a presentist: nothing exists which is not present. Everyone believed this until the nineteenth century; it is writing into the grammar of natural languages; it is still assumed in everyday life, even by philosophers who deny it.

Gist of Idea

I am a presentist, and all language and common sense supports my view

Source

John Bigelow (Presentism and Properties [1996], p.36), quoted by Trenton Merricks - Truth and Ontology

Book Reference

Merricks,Trenton: 'Truth and Ontology' [OUP 2007], p.140


A Reaction

The most likely deniers of presentism seem to be physicists and cosmologists who have overdosed on Einstein. On the whole I vote for presentism, but what justifies truths about the past and future. Traces existing in the present?