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Time, Tense, and Causation
Michael Tooley
420 pages
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5 line illustrations
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216x138mm
978-0-19-825074-6
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Paperback
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28 September 2000
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- A powerful new treatment of one of the hottest topics in philosophy
- Reconciles his account of time with Einstein's relativity theory
- Features critical survey of recent debates
- The magnum opus of a major philosopher
Michael Tooley presents a major new philosophical study of time and its relation to causation. The nature of time has always been one of the most fascinating and perplexing problems of philosophy. In recent years it has become the focus of vigorous debate between advocates of rival theories, as traditional, 'tensed' accounts of time, which hold that time has a direction and that the flow of time is part of the nature of the universe, have been challenged by 'tenseless' accounts of time, according to which past, present, and future are merely subjective features of experience, rather than objective features of events.
Time, Tense, and Causation offers a
new approach, in many ways intermediate between these two rivals. Tooley shares with tensed approaches the view that the universe is dynamic, holding that the past and the present are real while the future is not; but he rejects the view that this entails that there are irreducible tensed facts. Tooley's approach accounts for time in terms of its relation to causation: he argues that the direction of time is based upon the direction of causation, and that the key to understanding the dynamic nature of the universe is to understand the nature of causation. He also offers analyses of tensed concepts, and discusses semantic issues concerning truth and time. Finally, addressing the formidable difficulties posed for tensed accounts of time by the Special Theory of Relativity, he suggests that
a modified version of the theory, compatible with the account of time in this book, is to be preferred to the standard version.
Time, Tense, and Causation is rich in sophisticated and stimulating discussions of many of the deepest problems of metaphysics.Readership: Scholars and advanced students of metaphysics or philosophy of physics.
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Michael Tooley, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder
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"Good arguments abound. But it seems to me that the greatest virtue of the book is the admirable originality, creativity, and philosophical fecundity that Tooley displays. In this book, as in Tooley's previous works, he displays his usual independence of mind and philosophical courage. He takes on the presuppositions of the entire tradition of the tensed versus tenseless theory of time debate (rejecting both standard positions) and also takes on many other "received views," and the result is the most novel book on the tensed and tenseless theories of time that has been published in recent memory." - Philosophical Review
"I cannot but admire this book very deeply. Tooley has tackled one sacred cow after another in the debate over tense, and argued every point with exemplary clarity and explicitness. The result is a brilliant, original and provocative essay that changes the metaphysical landscape in this area. It provides fresh impetus to an issue which, thought its roots go back further, is as long as this century. Time, Tense, and Causation will be read and discussed well into the next." - Robin Le Poidevin, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
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Introduction; Part I: Causation, Time, and Ontology; Part II: Semantical Issues; Part III: Tensed Facts; Part IV: Temporal Relations; Part V: Objections; Part VI: A Summing-up; Bibliography; Index.
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