Growing Block Views
Summary | The growing block view of time can be seen as the combination of two theses. First of all, the growing block view is committed to a dynamic account of time, on which there is an objective, changing present. The growing block conception of time shares this commitment with a number of other A-theoretic accounts of time, including presentism and the moving spotlight theory. The second commitment is ontological; past and present times exist, while future times do not exist. On the growing block view, there is a block of objectively past time-slices and one present time-slice. As the present changes, new present slices are added to the block. The combination of these dynamic and ontological commitments means that the growing block view of time is often portrayed as a middle ground between presentism and eternalism and as a hybrid of A- and B-theory. |
Key works | For an early defense of the growing block view of time see Broad 1923. Also see Thomas 2019, who looks at defenses of growing block views prior to Broad. Tooley 1997 is a contemporary book length defense of the position. More recent advocates of the growing block view of time include Forrest 2004, Forbes & Briggs 2017, and Button 2006. Miller 2018 offers a good comparison of a specific version of the growing block view and presentism. The growing block view of time faces a serious skeptical challenge in accounting for our knowledge that we are present. Versions of this objection are raised by Bourne 2002 and Braddon-Mitchell 2004. |
Introductions | Good introductions include Markosian 2010, Miller 2013, and Perović 2021. |
- Eternalism (232)
- Presentism (407)
- The Open Future (267)
- Determinism (785)
- Fatalism (293)
- Temporal Eliminativism (64)
- Temporal Ontology, Misc (116)
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