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Four-dimensionalism
In philosophy, four-dimensionalism (also known as the doctrine of temporal parts) is the ontological position that an object's persistence through time is like its extension through space. Thus, an object that exists in time has temporal parts in the various subregions of the total region of time it occupies, just like an object that exists in a region of space has at least one part in every subregion of that space. Four-dimensionalists typically argue for treating time as analogous to space, usually leading them to endorse the doctrine of '' eternalism''. This is a philosophical approach to the ontological nature of time, according to which all points in time are equally "real", as opposed to the presentist idea that only the present is real. As some eternalists argue by analogy, just as all spatially distant objects and events are as real as those close to us, temporally distant objects and events are as real as those currently present to us. ''Perdurantism''—or ''perduran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endurantism
Endurantism or endurance theory is a philosophical theory of persistence and identity. According to the endurantist view, material objects are persisting three-dimensional individuals wholly present at every moment of their existence, which goes with an A-theory of time. This conception of an individual as always present is opposed to perdurantism or four-dimensionalism, which maintains that an object is a series of temporal parts or stages, requiring a B-theory of time. The use of "endure" and "perdure" to distinguish two ways in which an object can be thought to persist can be traced to David Lewis. One serious problem of endurantism is the problem of temporary intrinsics raised by David Lewis. Lewis claims that intrinsic properties of objects would change over time. Thus, endurantism cannot harmonize identity with change and then cannot explain persistence clearly even if endurantists appeal to intrinsic properties. Endurantists may argue that intrinsic properties are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eternalism (philosophy Of Time)
In the philosophy of space and time, eternalism is an approach to the ontological nature of time, which takes the view that all existence in time is equally ''real'', as opposed to presentism or the growing block universe theory of time, in which at least the future is not the same as any other time. Some forms of eternalism give time a similar ontology to that of space, as a dimension, with different times being as real as different places, and future events are "already there" in the same sense other places are already there, and that there is no objective flow of time. It is sometimes referred to as the "block time" or "block universe" theory due to its description of space-time as an unchanging four-dimensional "block", as opposed to the view of the world as a three-dimensional space modulated by the passage of time. The present In classical philosophy, time is divided into three distinct regions: the "past", the "present", and the "future". Using that representational m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosophy Of Space And Time
Philosophy of space and time is a branch of philosophy concerned with ideas about knowledge and understanding within space and time. Such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception. The philosophy of space and time was both an inspiration for and a central aspect of early analytic philosophy. The subject focuses on a number of basic issues, including whether time and space exist independently of the mind, whether they exist independently of one another, what accounts for time's apparently unidirectional flow, whether times other than the present moment exist, and questions about the nature of identity (particularly the nature of identity over time). Ancient and medieval views The earliest recorded philosophy of time was expounded by the ancient Egyptian thinker Ptahhotep (c. 2650–2600 BC), who said: The Vedas, the earliest texts on Indian philosophy and Hindu philosophy, dating back to the late 2nd millennium BC, describe ancient Hindu cosmology, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiple Occupancy View
In metaphysics, the multiple occupancy view (m.o.) is a particular analysis of fission cases, which claims to be at least ''a priori'' possible, if not actually true of real cases of fission. Description Imagine an amoeba which undergoes symmetrical fission into two sister amoebae (call them B and C). We tend to think that before fission there was one amoeba (call it A), but what has happened to it? It has not died, for death is a biological state, and there are no dead amoebae lying around after the fission! In fact, there is more life after the fission than there was before, i.e. two live amoebae instead of just one. Has A somehow ceased to exist without dying? Is A still around, and identical with either B or C? It cannot be identified with both B and C, for identity is a transitive relation, and B is certainly not the same amoeba as C. Yet, the fission was symmetrical, so neither B nor C has any more or less claim to be A than the other. This is the problem. We seem to be forc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perdurantism
Perdurantism or perdurance theory is a philosophical theory of persistence and identity.Temporal parts – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy In the debate over persistence currently involves three competing theories—one three-dimensionalist theory called "endurantism" and two four-dimensionalist theories called "perdurantism" and "exdurantism". For a perdurantist, all objects are considered to be four-dimensional worms and they make up the different regions of spacetime. It is a fusion of all the perdurant's instantaneous time slices compiled and blended into a complete mereological whole. Perdurantism posits that temporal parts alone are what ultimately change. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rietdijk–Putnam Argument
In philosophy, the Rietdijk–Putnam argument, named after and Hilary Putnam, uses 20th-century findings in physicsspecifically in special relativityto support the philosophical position known as four-dimensionalism. If special relativity is applied to all space and time, then each observer will have their own '' plane of simultaneity'', which contains a unique set of events that constitutes the observer's present moment. Observers moving at different relative velocities have different planes of simultaneity, and hence different sets of events that are present. Each observer considers their set of present events to be a three-dimensional universe, but even the slightest movement of the head or offset in distance between observers can cause the three-dimensional universes to have differing content. If each three-dimensional universe exists, then the existence of multiple three-dimensional universes suggests that the universe is four-dimensional. The argument is named after the discu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational and critical inquiry that reflects on its methods and assumptions. Historically, many of the individual sciences, such as physics and psychology, formed part of philosophy. However, they are considered separate academic disciplines in the modern sense of the term. Influential traditions in the history of philosophy include Western philosophy, Western, Islamic philosophy, Arabic–Persian, Indian philosophy, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. Western philosophy originated in Ancient Greece and covers a wide area of philosophical subfields. A central topic in Arabic–Persian philosophy is the relation between reason and revelation. Indian philosophy combines the Spirituality, spiritual problem of how to reach Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlighten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four-dimensional Space
Four-dimensional space (4D) is the mathematical extension of the concept of three-dimensional space (3D). Three-dimensional space is the simplest possible abstraction of the observation that one needs only three numbers, called ''dimensions'', to describe the sizes or locations of objects in the everyday world. This concept of ordinary space is called Euclidean space because it corresponds to EuclidEuclidean geometry, 's geometry, which was originally abstracted from the spatial experiences of everyday life. Single locations in Euclidean 4D space can be given as Vector space, vectors or ''n-tuples, 4-tuples'', i.e., as ordered lists of numbers such as . For example, the volume of a rectangular box is found by measuring and multiplying its length, width, and height (often labeled , , and ). It is only when such locations are linked together into more complicated shapes that the full richness and geometric complexity of 4D spaces emerge. A hint of that complexity can be seen in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualizing and understanding relativistic effects, such as how different observers perceive ''where'' and ''when'' events occur. Until the turn of the 20th century, the assumption had been that the three-dimensional geometry of the universe (its description in terms of locations, shapes, distances, and directions) was distinct from time (the measurement of when events occur within the universe). However, space and time took on new meanings with the Lorentz transformation and special theory of relativity. In 1908, Hermann Minkowski presented a geometric interpretation of special relativity that fused time and the three spatial dimensions into a single four-dimensional continuum now known as Minkowski space. This interpretation proved vital t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Line
The world line (or worldline) of an object is the path that an object traces in 4-dimensional spacetime. It is an important concept of modern physics, and particularly theoretical physics. The concept of a "world line" is distinguished from concepts such as an "orbit" or a " trajectory" (e.g., a planet's ''orbit in space'' or the ''trajectory'' of a car on a road) by inclusion of the dimension ''time'', and typically encompasses a large area of spacetime wherein paths which are straight perceptually are rendered as curves in spacetime to show their (relatively) more absolute position states—to reveal the nature of special relativity or gravitational interactions. The idea of world lines was originated by physicists and was pioneered by Hermann Minkowski. The term is now used most often in the context of relativity theories (i.e., special relativity and general relativity). Usage in physics A world line of an object (generally approximated as a point in space, e.g., a p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Van Inwagen
Peter van Inwagen ( ; born September 21, 1942) is an American philosopher. He is the John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and a research professor of philosophy at Duke University each spring. He previously taught at Syracuse University, earning his PhD from the University of Rochester in 1969 under the direction of Richard Taylor. Van Inwagen is one of the leading figures in contemporary metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of action. He was the president of the Society of Christian Philosophers from 2010 to 2013. Career Van Inwagen's 1983 monograph ''An Essay on Free Will'' played an important role in rehabilitating libertarianism with respect to free will in mainstream analytical philosophy. In the book, he introduces the term incompatibilism about free will and determinism, to stand in contrast to compatibilism—the view that free will is compatible with determinism. Van Inwagen's central argument (the '' consequenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Cone
In special and general relativity, a light cone (or "null cone") is the path that a flash of light, emanating from a single Event (relativity), event (localized to a single point in space and a single moment in time) and traveling in all directions, would take through spacetime. Details If one imagines the light confined to a two-dimensional plane, the light from the flash spreads out in a circle after the event E occurs, and if we graph the growing circle with the vertical axis of the graph representing time, the result is a Cone (geometry), cone, known as the future light cone. The past light cone behaves like the future light cone in reverse, a circle which contracts in radius at the speed of light until it converges to a point at the exact position and time of the event E. In reality, there are three space Dimension (vector space), dimensions, so the light would actually form an expanding or contracting sphere in three-dimensional (3D) space rather than a circle in 2D, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
