Philosophy 6380
Seminar in Metaphysics
Time
Section
001
Professor Michael Tooley
W 3:00 - 6:00
Office hours: F 12:00 - 1:50
Hellems
177
Hellems, Room 277
Textbooks
The texts that we will be using in
this course are as follows:
Robin Le Poidevin and Murray MacBeath (eds.) The Philosophy of Time (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1993).
D. H. Mellor, Mellor's Real Time II
(London: Routledge, 1998).
In addition, copies of some
articles, and some chapters from my book Time, Tense, and Causation,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997 and 2000), will be placed on
reserve in the Philosophy Department library.
Required Work
The required work for the course
can take the form either of two shorter essays, of about 7 to 8
double-spaced, typewritten pages in length, or of one longer essay, of
about 15 pages in length. There will not be any final examination.
Before handing in any essay, you
should give me a short outline
of the essay – which can be in point form – of about two pages in
length, to see if there are any potential problems with your
topic. After I have read your outline, we can then get together
to talk about your paper, and I can point out any important objections
that need to be addressed, or readings that might be helpful, or an
alternative way of approaching the topic.
Topics
and Readings
1. Introductory Material on the Philosophy of Time
(January 18)
Le Poidevin and MacBeath, "Introduction", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 1-20.
J. J. C. Smart, "Time", The
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Paul Edwards (New York:
Macmillan, 1967), Volume 8, pages 126-34.
2. Introductory Material –
Continued
(January 25)
Le Poidevin and MacBeath, "Introduction", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 1-20.
J. J. C. Smart, "Time", The
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Paul Edwards (New York:
Macmillan, 1967), Volume 8, pages 126-34.
3. Alternative Accounts of the
Nature of Time
(February 1)
"Past, Present, and Future", chapter 1 of Mellor's Real Time II
"Truths and Truthmakers", chapter 2 of Mellor's Real Time II
"The Nature of Time: Alternative Accounts and Basic Issues",
chapter 1 of Time, Tense, and
Causation
"Actuality and Actuality as of a Time", chapter 2 of Time, Tense, and Causation
4. Presentism: 1.
Expositions and Defenses
(February 8)
John Bigelow, "Presentism and Properties", Philosophical Perspectives 10,
(1996), pp. 35-52.
Ned Markosian, "A Defense of Presentism", Oxford Studies in Metaphysics,
forthcoming.
Thomas M. Crisp, "Presentism", The
Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics, edited by Michael J. Loux and
Dean Zimmerman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 211-45.
5. Presentism: 2. A
Critical Evaluation
(February 15)
Michael Tooley, "Presentism".
6. Mellor's Tenseless Approach to
Time
(February 22)
"Tokens and Times", chapter 3 of Mellor's Real Time II
"The Presence of Experience", chapter 4 of Mellor's Real Time II
"Time and Space", chapter 5 of Mellor's Real Time II
"Thinking in Time", chapter 6 of Mellor's Real Time II
7. McTaggart's
Argument
(March 1)
J. M. E. McTaggart, "The Unreality of Time", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 23-34.
"McTaggart's Proof", chapter 7 of Mellor's Real Time II
"McTaggart's Argument", section 10.4 of Time, Tense, and Causation
8. Change and the Passage of Time
(March 8)
Sydney Shoemaker, "Time without Change", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 63-79.
A. N. Prior, "Changes in Events and Changes in Things", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 35-46.
"Change", chapter 8 of Mellor's Real
Time II
9. The Analysis of Tensed
Concepts
(March 15)
"Past, Present, and Future", chapter 7 of Time, Tense, and Causation
"Basic Tensed Sentences and their Analysis," in Time, Tense, and Reference, edited
by Aleksandar Jokic and Quentin Smith, MIT Press, Massachusetts, 2003,
409-47.
10. Philosophical
Objections to Tensed Accounts
(March 29)
D. H. Mellor, "The Unreality of Tense", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 47-59.
"Philosophical Objections", chapter 10 of Time, Tense, and Causation
11. A Causal Theory of the
Direction of Time?
(April 5)
"Events, Facts, and Causation", chapter 9 of Mellor's Real Time II
"Causation and Time", chapter 10 of Mellor's Real Time II
"The Direction of Time", chapter 11 of Mellor's Real Time II
"Causation and Temporal Order", chapter 9 of Time, Tense, and Causation
12. Time Travel and
Backwards Causation
(April 12)
Michael Dummett, "Bringing About the Past", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 117-33.
David Lewis, "The Paradoxes of Time Travel", The Philosophy of Time, pp. 134-46.
13. Backwards Causation
(April 19)
"The Linearity of Time", chapter 12 of Mellor's Real Time II
Michael Tooley, "Is Backward Causation Logically Possible?", Philosophical Studies (Department
of Philosophy, The University of Tokyo), 18, 1999, 1-32.
14. The Present and the Special
Theory of Relativity
(April 26)
"Relativity" and "Relativity and the Present", sections 5 and 6 of
chapter 5 of Mellor's Real Time II
"The Special Theory of Relativity", chapter 11 of Time, Tense, and Causation
15. Concluding Discussion and
Overview
(May 3)
"Summary and Conclusions", chapter 12 of Time, Tense, and Causation
"The Metaphysics of Time," in The
Arguments of Time (The British Academy Centenary volume on
Time), edited by Jeremy Butterfield, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
1999, 21-42.