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 | | Real Time II (International Library of Philosophy) by D. H. Mellor ISBN-10: 9780415097802 ISBN-10: 0-415-09780-0 ISBN-13: 9780415097802 ISBN-13: 978-0-415-09780-2 Hardcover 1998-06-24 Routledge Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Real Time II extends and evolves D.H. Mellor's classic exploration of the philosophy of time, Real Time. This wholly new book answers such basic metaphysical questions about time as: how do past, present and future differ, how are time and space related, what is change, is time travel possible? His Real Time dominated the philosophy of time for fifteen years. This book will do the same for the next twenty years. | ||
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Reviews | ||
Revised Version--the best intro to temporal metaphysics This book is a milestone in the metaphysics of time; it is a _full_ theory; in particular it is a B-theory which attempts to provided B-theoretic surrogates for statements with A-theoretic predicates and modifiers. I would say its focus is to address McTaggart's puzzle--solve it. The book covers clearly and concisely (although perhaps a bit too concisely) a group of other related issues--for example, experiencing the present, backward causation, the metaphysical consequences of the special theory of relativity, and the relationship between events and causation. Although I find problems with his metaphysics on a number of scores (his arguments against backward causation and his take on the significance of presence of experience in particular), the book is a wonderful introduction to the subject. | ||
Interesting Picture of the World Mellor says much in a short space, and he says it in an entertaining (though not always easy to understand) way. The first half of this book defends a token-reflexive analysis of tensed discourse against A-theoretical objections. The second half gives arguments in favor of Mellor's untensed theory of time. Mellor's theory is distinguished from other versions of the B-theory in that it 1) treats change as the possession of incompatible non-relational properties by a single thing at different times, 2) defines temporal order as the direction of causation, and 3) denies that people and objects (as opposed to events) have temporal parts. This makes for a very interesting picture of the world. As interesting as the book was, I wish Mellor had spent more time in the second half trying to respond to possible objections. For example, he is committed to the view that a single object can exist fully at two distinct temporal locations and possess incompatible properties at each location. Though he discusses McTaggart at length, he does not seem to notice that this part of his theory might be open to McTaggart-like objections. This is a good piece of philosophy. It should interest anyone working in the philosophy of time, though one might want to look elsewhere for more sustained arguments. The book's most important contribution is probably its defense of B-theoretical semantics. If nothing else, it is a source of fascinating and original ideas. | ||
The philosophy of time D.H.Mellor is one of the most important figures in contemporary methaphysics. Real Time II is a not just a revision, but a complete reworking of his tenseless theory of time, as developed in Real Time (1981). The book deals with the basic metaphysical question: what is time? Influenced by McTaggart's proof, Mellor raises his arguments against an a-theory of time, and in developing his own b-theory, he takes us through the main concerns about time e.g. the presence of experience, time and space, change, causation and the linearity of time. Taking us one more step away from the classical considerations of a past, present and future, the book gives the reader an essential ground for the contemporary philosophy of time. | ||