Event Detail

Eternalism, roughly speaking, is the view that the past, present, and future are equally real. This is the view on the nature of time accepted by most physicists, and in this talk, I simply assume its truth for the sake of argument. (I furthermore assume that so-called “moving spotlight” versions of eternalism are false; this is also in keeping with what most physicists think.) After briefly explaining and motivating eternalism, I turn to exploring its implications for our understanding of ourselves from the standpoint of the first-person present. In Part 1 of the talk, I argue that if eternalism is true, then there seems to be an inconsistency embedded in our most natural, everyday understanding of ourselves. A revision to our self-understanding is required to dissolve the inconsistency. In Part 2 of the talk, I sketch the revision to our self-understanding that I believe is called for. I conclude with some brief comments on the significance of the revision and its relevance to a larger project in metaethics that I am pursuing.