ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: B-COMING: TIME’S PASSAGE IN THE B-THEORY BLOCKWORLD Lisa Judith Leininger, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Dissertation directed by: Professor Mathias Frisch Department of Philosophy I defend what is routinely held to be an incompatible combination of views: the idea that time passes and the idea that the universe is a four-dimensional manifold without an objective present. Almost all philosophers of time think that A-theory, in which there is a privileged universe-wide plane of simultaneous events identified as the common “NOW,” is the only theory able to preserve our fundamental experience of time’s passage. B- theorists hold that the Special Theory of Relativity implies that the universe is a four- dimensional manifold without a NOW, and as a result, passage must be merely an illusion. It seems we have a choice: reject the relativistic universe or accept passage as an illusion. I hold that we do not need to make this choice, and show instead how time can pass in this B-theory blockworld. I first argue that the passage of time cannot be understood as the change or shift of the NOW, and then develop and defend an alternative account of the passage of time based on the notion of B-coming, which is a relation between spacetime points defined in terms of the light cone structure of relativistic spacetime. In this way, I make room for passage in the B-theory blockworld. B-COMING: TIME’S PASSAGE IN THE B-THEORY BLOCKWORLD by Lisa Judith Leininger Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Advisory Committee: Professor Mathias Frisch, Chair Professor Jeffrey Bub Professor Erin Eaker Professor Andrew Elby Professor Allen Stairs ©Copyright by Lisa Judith Leininger 2013 Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude to all those – professors, family, and friends – who gave their help along this journey. ii Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. ii Contents ............................................................................................................................. iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Introduction: About Time ....................................................................................................1 1. On the Nature of Passage and Becoming ......................................................................12 1.1 The Ontology of Spacetime ............................................................................13 1.1.1 Presentism ........................................................................................14 1.1.2 Eternalism ........................................................................................16 1.1.3 The Growing Block ..........................................................................18 1.1.4 The Metaphysical Equivalence Objection .......................................20 1.2 The Temporal Characteristics of the World ....................................................21 1.2.1 The A-series and the B-series ..........................................................21 1.2.2 The Debate About Tense .................................................................23 1.2.3 The Moving Spotlight ......................................................................25 1.2.4 The Metaphysics of Time ................................................................26 1.3 The Concept of Temporal Change ..................................................................26 1.4 The Passage of Time .......................................................................................30 1.4.1 The Transitory Nature of Our Temporal Experience .......................30 1.4.2 The Differentiation of Space and Time ...........................................30 1.4.3 More Than Mere Variation ..............................................................31 1.4.4 The Traditional Understanding of Passage ......................................33 1.5 Temporal Becoming ........................................................................................34 1.5.1 The Reality-Acquisition Model .......................................................36 1.5.2 The Property-Acquisition Model .....................................................38 1.6 The Special Theory of Relativity ....................................................................40 1.6.1 The Details .......................................................................................40 1.6.2 The Implications of STR ..................................................................43 1.6.3 The Rejection of Traditional Temporal Becoming ..........................44 1.6.4 The Rejection of Passage .................................................................47 1.6.5 The Response ...................................................................................47 1.7 Passage and Illusion ........................................................................................49 1.8 The Problem and the Solution .........................................................................50 1.9 Conclusion ......................................................................................................53 2. The Changing NOW .....................................................................................................55 2.1 McTaggart and the Moving Spotlight .............................................................58 2.1.1 McTaggart’s Paradox .......................................................................59 iii 2.1.2 Houses on a Street ............................................................................61 2.1.3 Appeal to Hypertime ........................................................................63 2.1.4 The Problem With Hypertime ..........................................................65 2.1.5 The NOW Simpliciter ......................................................................67 2.1.6 The Infinite Regress of Hypertimes .................................................69 2.2 Presentism and the Myth of Passage ...............................................................73 2.2.1 Temporal Change in Presentism ......................................................74 2.2.2 The Presentist’s Problem .................................................................75 2.2.3 The Presentist’s Ploy ........................................................................79 2.2.4 The One Instant Test ........................................................................80 2.2.5 Tensed Properties .............................................................................82 2.2.6 Temporal Distributional Properties ..................................................84 2.2.7 Ersatz Presentism .............................................................................85 2.2.8 Saving Surrogates ............................................................................87 2.2.9 The Last Ditch Effort .......................................................................89 2.3 The Static Growing Block .............................................................................92 2.3.1 The Change in the Totality of Temporal Facts ................................93 2.3.2 The Failed Response ........................................................................94 2.3.3 Saving Change Through Absolute Becoming ..................................99 2.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................................100 3. Absolute Becoming and the Existence of the Future ..................................................102 3.1 The Elements of Absolute Becoming ...........................................................105 3.1.1 The Non-Existence of the Future ...................................................106 3.1.2 The Present Brings About the Future .............................................106 3.2 The Conflict in Absolute Becoming .............................................................108 3.3 Solutions From the Causal Argument Against Presentism ...........................109 3.4 Non-Relational Accounts of Causation ........................................................112 3.4.1 Humean Causation .........................................................................113 3.4.2 The Counterfactual Account of Causation .....................................115 3.5 Assessing Non-Relational Accounts of Causation .......................................118 3.5.1 The Ultimate Argument .................................................................119 3.5.2 Replying to the Ultimate Argument ...............................................121 3.5.3 The Nature of Surprise ...................................................................123 3.5.4 The Coordination Problem .............................................................125 3.5.5 Brute Facts and the Changing Universe .........................................126 3.5.6 The Failure of Appealing to Brute Facts ........................................127 3.5.7 The Appeal to Laws of Nature .......................................................130 3.6 Non-Regularity Accounts of Causation ........................................................135 3.6.1 Bigelow’s Account of Causation ...................................................135