The Unique Groundability of Temporal Facts

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 97 (2):410-432 (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The A-theory and the B-theory advance competing claims about how time is grounded. The A-theory says that A-facts are more fundamental in grounding time than are B-facts, and the B-theory says the reverse. We argue that whichever theory is true of the actual world is also true of all possible worlds containing time. We do this by arguing that time is uniquely groundable: however time is actually grounded, it is necessarily grounded in that way. It follows that if either the A-theory or the B-theory is actually false, then it is necessarily false.

Similar books and articles

The Unique Groundability of Temporal Facts.John Cusbert & Kristie Millier - 2017 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 94 (1).
Contingent Grounding.Nathaniel Baron-Schmitt - 2021 - Synthese 199 (1-2):4561-4580.
Is There Change on the B-theory of Time?Luca Banfi - 2021 - European Journal of Analytic Philosophy 17 (1):(B1)5-28.
A new problem for the A-theory of time.Simon Prosser - 2000 - Philosophical Quarterly 50 (201):494-498.
B-Theory and Time Biases.Sayid Bnefsi - 2019 - In Patrick Blackburn, Per Hasle & Peter Øhrstrøm (eds.), Logic and Philosophy of Time: Further Themes from Prior. Aalborg University Press. pp. 41-52.
On Explaining Why Time Seems to Pass.Natalja Deng - 2013 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 51 (3):367-382.
Beyond a-and b-time.Clifford Williams - 2003 - Philosophia 31 (1-2):75-91.

Analytics

Added to PP
2018-09-18

Downloads
105 (#171,511)

6 months
396 (#4,610)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Citations of this work

Explaining contingent facts.Fatema Amijee - 2020 - Philosophical Studies 178 (4):1163-1181.
Arbitrary grounding.Jonas Werner - 2021 - Philosophical Studies 179 (3):911-931.
Time, and time again.Sam Baron & Yi-Cheng Lin - 2022 - Philosophical Quarterly 72 (2):259-282.
Symmetries and ground.Martin Glazier - 2024 - Philosophical Studies 181 (5):1087-1113.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The unreality of time.John Ellis McTaggart - 1908 - Mind 17 (68):457-474.
Epistemic Two-Dimensional Semantics.David J. Chalmers - 2004 - Philosophical Studies 118 (1-2):153-226.
An Argument for the Identity Theory.David K. Lewis - 1966 - Journal of Philosophy 63 (1):17-25.
From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis.Frank Jackson - 1999 - Philosophical Quarterly 49 (197):539-542.
Time and physical geometry.Hilary Putnam - 1967 - Journal of Philosophy 64 (8):240-247.

View all 42 references / Add more references