TEXTS
Required Readings (Packets)
The A Theory and the B Theory
J. M. E. McTaggart, "The Unreality of Time", Mind 17: 457–73, 1908.Gale, R. M. (1966). McTaggart’s Analysis of Time. American Philosophical Quarterly, 3(2), 145–152.
Picturing TimeBraun, Marta (1992). Picturing Time: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey. University of Chicago Press.
Assembly TheorySharma, A., Czégel, D., Lachmann, M. et al. Assembly theory explains and quantifies selection and evolution. Nature 622, 321–328 (2023).
Time Does Not ExistRovelli, Carlo, 2017, Time Does Not Exist, Reality is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity, New York: Riverhead Books.
Optional Readings
Fatalism
Aristotle, De Interpretatione, in Aristotle, The Complete Works of Aristotle, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984, Chapter 9.
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, Book V, Prose vi.
Reductionism
Alexander, H.G. (ed. and trans.), 1956, The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Ariew, Roger (ed), 2000, Leibniz and Clarke: Correspondence, Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing.
Arntzenius, Frank, 2012, Space, Time, and Stuff, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Coope, Ursula, 2001, “Why Does Aristotle Say That There Is No Time Without Change?”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 101(1): 359–367.
Mitchell, Sam, 1993, “Mach’s Mechanics and Absolute Space and Time”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 24(4): 565–583.
Newton, Isaac, 2004, Isaac Newton: Philosophical Writings, Andrew Janiak (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Newton-Smith, W.H., 1980, The Structure of Time, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Shoemaker, Sydney, 1969, “Time Without Change”, The Journal of Philosophy, 66(12): 363–381. Richard T.W. Arthur, 1985. “Leibniz’s Theory of Time,” in Okruhlik and Brown (eds.), The Natural Philosophy of Leibniz, Dordrecht: Reidel, 263–313.
Topology of Time
Kant, Immanuel, 1771/87, The Critique of Pure Reason, Norman Kemp Smith (trans.), London: Macmillan, 1963, pp. 75ff. Newton-Smith, W.H., 1980, The Structure of Time, Ch 5, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Newton-Smith, W.H., 1980, The Structure of Time, Ch 3, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Swinburne, R. G., 1966, “The Beginning of the Universe”, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 40: 125–138.
Price, Huw, 1994, “A Neglected Route to Realism about Quantum Mechanics”, Mind, 103(411): 303–336.
Price, Huw, 1996, Time’s Arrow and Archimedes’ Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time, Oxford: Oxford University PressSavitt, Steven F. (ed.), 1995, Time’s Arrows Today: Recent Physical and Philosophical Work on the Direction of Time, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sklar, Lawrence, 1974, Space, Time, and Spacetime, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Newton-Smith, W.H., 1980, The Structure of Time, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
McTaggart’s Paradox
Bradley, F.H., 1893, Appearance and Reality, London: Swan Sonnenschein; second edition, with an appendix, 1897; ninth impression, corrected, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930.
Dyke, Heather, 2002, “McTaggart and the Truth about Time”, in Time, Reality & Experience, Craig Callender (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 137–152. J. M. E. McTaggart, "The Unreality of Time", Mind 17: 457–73, 1908.
Mellor, D.H., 1998, Real Time II, London: Routledge.Prior, Arthur N.,1967, Past, Present, and Future, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prior, Arthur N.,1968, Papers on Time and Tense, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The A Theory and The B Theory
Emery, Nina, 2017, “Temporal Ersatzism”, Philosophy Compass, 12(9): e12441.
Gale, R. M. (1966). McTaggart’s Analysis of Time. American Philosophical Quarterly, 3(2), 145–152.Le Poidevin, Robin (ed.), 1998, Questions of Time and Tense, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Le Poidevin, Robin and Murray McBeath (eds.), 1993, The Philosophy of Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Markosian, Ned, 1993, “How Fast Does Time Pass?”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 53(4): 829–844.
Maudlin, Tim, 2007, “On the Passing of Time”, in his The Metaphysics Within Physics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chapter 4.Mellor, D.H., 1998, Real Time II, London: Routledge.
Prior, Arthur N., 1959 [1976], “Thank Goodness That’s Over”, Philosophy, 34(128): 12–17. Reprinted in his Papers in Logic and Ethics, P. T. Geach and A. J. P. Kenny (eds), London: Duckworth, 1976, pp. 78–84.Prior, Arthur N., 1962 [1968], Changes in Events and Changes in Things (Lindley Lecture Series), Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas. Reprinted in Prior 1968b: 1–14. [Prior 1962 available online]
Prior, Arthur N., 1967, Past, Present, and Future, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Prior, Arthur N., 1968, Papers on Time and Tense, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prior, Arthur N., 1970, “The Notion of the Present”, Studium Generale, 23: 245–248. Reprinted in The Study of Time, J. T. Fraser, F. C. Haber, and G. H. Müller (eds), Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1972, 320–323.Prior, Arthur N., 1996, “Some Free Thinking About Time”, an undated manuscript first published after his death in Logic and Reality: Essays on the Legacy of Arthur Prior, Jack Copeland (ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 47–51.
Sider, Theodore, 2001, Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Skow, Bradford, 2009, “Relativity and the Moving Spotlight”:, Journal of Philosophy, 106(12): 666–678.
Smart, J. J. C., 1949, “The River of Time”, Mind, 58(232): 483–494. Reprinted in Antony Flew (ed.), Essays in Conceptual Analysis, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1966, pp. 213–227. doi:10.1093/mind/LVIII.232.483Smart, J. J. C., 1963, Philosophy and Scientific Realism, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Smith, Quentin, 1993, Language and Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Sullivan, Meghan, 2012a, “The Minimal A-Theory”, Philosophical Studies, 158(2): 149–174.
Williams, Donald C., 1951, “The Myth of Passage”:, Journal of Philosophy, 48(15): 457–472.Zimmerman, Dean W.,2005, “The A-Theory of Time, The B-Theory of Time, and ‘Taking Tense Seriously’”, Dialectica, 59(4): 401–457. Zwart, P.J., 1976, About Time, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co.
Presentism, Eternalism, Growing Block Theory
Adams, Robert Merrihew, 1986, “Time and Thisness”, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 11: 315–329.
Bigelow, John, 1996, “Presentism and Properties”, Philosophical Perspectives, 10: 35–52.
Bourne, Craig, 2006, A Future for Presentism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Emery, Nina2020, “Actualism, Presentism and the Grounding Objection”, Erkenntnis, 85(1): 23–43.
Hinchliff, Mark, 1996, “The Puzzle of Change”, Philosophical Perspectives, 10: 119–136.
Ingram, David, 2016, “The Virtues of Thisness Presentism”, Philosophical Studies, 173(11): 2867–2888.
Keller, Simoon and Michael Nelson, 2001, “Presentists Should Believe in Time-Travel”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 79(3): 333–345.
Markosian, Ned, 2004, “A Defense of Presentism”, in Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, volume 1, Dean W. Zimmerman (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 47–82.
Markosian, Ned, 2013, “The Truth About the Past and the Future”, in Around the Tree: Semantic and Metaphysical Issues Concerning Branching Time and the Open Future, Fabrice Correia and Andrea Iacona (eds.), Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 127–141.
McCall, Storrs, 1994, A Model of the Universe: Space-Time, Probability, and Decision, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Rini, Adriane A. and Max J. Cresswell, 2012, The World–Time Parallel: Tense and Modality in Logic and Metaphysics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sider, Theodore, 1999, “Presentism and Ontological Commitment”, The Journal of Philosophy, 96(7): 325.
Sider, Theodore, 2001, Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sullivan, Meghan, 2012b, “Problems for Temporary Existence in Tense Logic”, Philosophy Compass, 7(1): 43–57.
Tooley, Michael, 1997, Time, Tense, and Causation, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zimmerman, Dean W., 1996, “Persistence and Presentism”, Philosophical Papers, 25(2): 115–126.
Zimmerman, Dean W., 1998, “Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism”, in Peter van Inwagen and Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Metaphysics: The Big Questions, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 206–209.
Time as a Dimension
Lewis, David, 1986, “The Paradoxes of Time Travel”, in his Philosophical Papers, Volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 67–80.
Hawley, Katherine, 2001, How Things Persist, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sider, Theodore, 1999, “Presentism and Ontological Commitment”, The Journal of Philosophy, 96(7): 325. doi:10.2307/2564601
Van Inwagen, Peter, 1990, “Symposia Papers: Four-Dimensional Objects”, Noûs, 24(2): 245–255. doi:10.2307/2215526
Dynamic and Static Theory
Hawley, Katherine, 2001, How Things Persist, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lewis, David, 1986, “The Paradoxes of Time Travel”, in his Philosophical Papers, Volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 67–80.
Markosian, Ned, 1993, “How Fast Does Time Pass?”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 53(4): 829–844.
Markosian, Ned, 2004, “A Defense of Presentism”, in Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, volume 1, Dean W. Zimmerman (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 47–82.
Markosian, Ned“The Dynamic Theory of Time and Time Travel to the Past”, Disputatio.
Moss, Sarah, 2012, “Four-Dimensionalist Theories of Persistence”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 90: 671–686.
Price, Marjorie, 1977, “Identity Through Time”, The Journal of Philosophy, 74: 201–217.
Prior, Arthur N.,1967, Past, Present, and Future, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prior, Arthur N.,1968, Papers on Time and Tense, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sider, Theodore, 1999, “Presentism and Ontological Commitment”, The Journal of Philosophy, 96(7): 325.
Smart, J. J. C., 1949, “The River of Time”, Mind, 58(232): 483–494. Reprinted in Antony Flew (ed.), Essays in Conceptual Analysis, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1966, pp. 213–227.
Sullivan, Meghan, 2012a, “The Minimal A-Theory”, Philosophical Studies, 158(2): 149–174.
Thomson, Judith Jarvis, 1983, “Parthood and Identity Across Time”, The Journal of Philosophy, 80(4): 201–220.
Williams, Donald C., 1951, “The Myth of Passage”:, Journal of Philosophy, 48(15): 457–472..
The Moving Spotlight Theory
Broad, C.D., 1923, Scientific Thought, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
Cameron, Ross P., 2015, The Moving Spotlight: An Essay on Time and Ontology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fine, Kit, 2005, Modality and Tense: Philosophical Papers, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hawley, Katherine,, 2004 [2020], “Temporal Parts”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 Edition)
Lewis, David, 1986, “The Paradoxes of Time Travel”, in his Philosophical Papers, Volume 2, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 67–80. (especially Chapter 4.2)
Sider, Theodore, 2001, Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Skow, Bradford, 2015, Objective Becoming, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thomson, Judith Jarvis, 1983, “Parthood and Identity Across Time”, The Journal of Philosophy, 80(4): 201–220.
Van Inwagen, Peter, 1983, An Essay on Free Will, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Zimmerman, Dean W., 1998, “Temporary Intrinsics and Presentism”, in Peter van Inwagen and Dean W. Zimmerman (eds.), Metaphysics: The Big Questions, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 206–209.
Time Travel
Bernstein, Sara, 2015, “Nowhere Man: Time Travel and Spatial Location: Nowhere Man”, Midwest Studies In Philosophy, 39: 158–168.
Bernstein, Sara2017, “Time Travel and the Movable Present”, in Being, Freedom, and Method, John A. Keller (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 80–92.
Dyke, Heather2005, “The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Time Travel”, Think, 3: 43–52.
Earman, John, 1995, “Recent Work on Time Travel”, in Savitt 1995: 268–310.
Markosian, Ned, forthcoming, “The Dynamic Theory of Time and Time Travel to the Past”, Disputatio.
Meiland, Jack W., 1974, “A Two-Dimensional Passage Model of Time for Time Travel”, Philosophical Studies, 26(3–4): 153–173.
Miller, Kristie, 2017, “Is Some Backwards Time Travel Inexplicable?” American Philosophical Quarterly, 54(2): 131–141.
Sider, Theodore, 2001, Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thorne, Kip S., 1994, Black Holes and Time Warps, New York: W.W. Norton.
Vihvelin, Kadri, 1996, “What Time Travelers Cannot Do”, Philosophical Studies, 81(2–3): 315–330.
Yourgrau, Palle, 1999, Gödel Meets Einstein: Time Travel in the Göodel Universe, La Salle: Open Court.
Time and Physics
Albert, David, 2000, Time and Chance, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Emery, Nina, 2019, “Actualism without Presentism? Not by Way of the Relativity Objection”, Noûs, 53(4): 963–986.Emery, Nina, forthcoming, “Temporal Ersatzism and Relativity”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, first online: 7 July 2020.
Godfrey-Smith, William, 1979, “Special Relativity and the Present”, Philosophical Studies, 36(3): 233–244.Healey, Richard, 2002, “Can Physics Coherently Deny the Reality of Time?”, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement, 50: 293–316.
Huggett and Wüthrich 2013; Knox, Eleanor, 2013, “Effective Spacetime Geometry”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 44(3): 346–356.
Markosian, Ned, 2004, “A Defense of Presentism”, in Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, volume 1, Dean W. Zimmerman (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 47–82.Maxwell, Nicholas, 1985, “Are Probabilism and Special Relativity Incompatible?”, Philosophy of Science, 52(1): 23–43.
Price, Marjorie, 1977, “Identity Through Time”, The Journal of Philosophy, 74: 201–217. Putnam, Hilary, 1967, “Time and Physical Geometry”:, Journal of Philosophy, 64(8): 240–247.
Rovelli, Carlo, 2017, Reality is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity, New York: Riverhead Books.Savitt, Steven F., 2000, “There’s No Time like the Present (In Minkowski Spacetime)”, Philosophy of Science, 67(supplement: Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association): S563–S574.
Stein, Howard, 1968, “On Einstein-Minkowski Space-Time”:, Journal of Philosophy, 65(1): 5–23.Weingard, Robert, 1972, “Relativity and the Reality of Past and Future Events”, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 23(2): 119–121.
Wüthrich, Christian and Craig Callender, 2017, “What Becomes of a Causal Set?”, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 68(3): 907–925.
Time and Rationality
Brink, David O., 2003, “Prudence and Authenticity: Intrapersonal Conflicts of Value”, Philosophical Review, 112(2): 215–245.Suhler, Christopher and Craig Callender, 2012, “Thank Goodness That Argument Is Over: Explaining the Temporal Value Asymmetry”, Philosopher’s Imprint, 12: art. 15.
Parfit, Derek, 1971, “Personal Identity”, The Philosophical Review, 80(1): 3–27.Paul, L. A., 2010, “Temporal Experience”, Journal of Philosophy, 107(7): 333–359.
Prosser, Simon, 2016, Experiencing Time, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Sullivan, Meghan, 2018, Time Biases: A Theory of Rational Planning and Personal Persistence, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Assembly Theory
Sharma, A., Czégel, D., Lachmann, M. et al. Assembly theory explains and quantifies selection and evolution. Nature 622, 321–328 (2023).
Others
Braun, Marta (1992). Picturing Time: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey. University of Chicago Press. (ISBN: 9780226071756)
David Leatherbarrow, Building Time: Architecture, event, and experience, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020 (ISBN: 978-1350165182)Mosen Mostafavi and David Leatherbarrow, On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time, MIT, 1993. (ISBN: 978-02626314400