Metaphysics Key concepts Flashcards
A-series
objects are ordered in terms of present, past and future, where those are changing relationships between that temporal position and a shifting present
B-series
objects are ordered in terms of a static temporal position, ‘earlier than’ or ‘later than’ or ‘simultaneous with.’
Who proposed the A and B series?
John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart
Presentism
only the present and present objects exist, issue this clashes with the general theory of relativity as it requires absolute simultaneity. Have to assume the A-series.
Eternalism
the past, the present and the future all exist (and perhaps there are past, present and future objects).
Restricted Quantification
there’s no beer I the fridge doesn’t mean there is no beer in the world, similarly saying napoleon exists doesn’t have to mean he exists right here, he exists in another spatiotemporal location
Arthur Prior – “Thank goodness that’s over”
He isn’t referring to how the utterance is later than an incident, the temporal location of the utterance is irrelevant – he is referring to the “overness” of the situation.
Qualitative identity
two objects which are identical are counted as the same
Quantitative identity
if an object is changed, then its is counted as a different object. Two identical objects are numerically different.
Leibniz’s Law
if x is numerically identical to y, then for every property the object x has, y also has > a new snowman is not the same object as the later melted version.
Possible solution to quantitative identity: composition
your head occupies a different spatiotemporal location to your feet, but they are both parts of the same person
Four dimensionalism
perdurance: objects have both spatial and temporal parts
Three dimensionalism
endurance: objects have spatial but not temporal parts
Animalism
person (p1) at t1 and a person (p2) at t2 are the same person iff the human animal that is p1 at t1 is the same human animal that is p2 at t2.
Bodily continuity
person (p1) at t1 and person (p2) at t2 are the same person iff p1s body at t1 is continuous with p2s body at t2.
