LE POIDEVIN:PHILOSOPHY OF TIME ORP PAPER

Oxford Readings in Philosophy

by Robin Le Poidevin (editor), Murray MacBeath (editor)

This volume provides a balanced set of reviews which introduce the central topics in the philosophy of time. This is the first introductory anthology on the subject to appear for many years; the contributors are distinguished, and two of the essays are specially written for this collection. In their introduction, the editors summarize the background to the debate, and show the relevance of issues in the philosophy of time for other branches of philosophy and for science. Contributors include J.M.E. McTaggart, Arthur N. Prior, D.H. Mellor, Sydney Shoemaker, Graeme Forbes, Lawrence Sklar, Michael Dummett, David Lewis, W.H. Newton-Smith, and Anthony Quinton.

Genres: Philosophy, Science, Metaphysics, Nonfiction, Anthologies

230 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 1993

About the author

Robin Le Poidevin (born 1962) is a Professor of Metaphysics at the University of Leeds whose interests include the nature and experience of time, agnosticism, and philosophy of religion. He joined the Department of Philosophy at Leeds in 1989 having completed postgraduate studies at both Oxford and Cambridge, obtaining his MA from the former and his PhD from the latter.He is also the current president of The British Society for the Philosophy of Religion.

From 1998 to 2001 he was Head of Department, and in 2000 was appointed to a personal chair in Metaphysics. He is a member of the Centre for Philosophy of Religion, the Centre for Metaphysics and Mind, and is the Editor of Religious Studies, and Past President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion.

In 2007 he gave the Stanton Lectures in the Philosophy of Religion at the University of Cambridge, and in 2012 was Alan Richardson Fellow in Theology at the University of Durham.

Reviews

[Giles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful "first dip" into this complex and inspiring subject. The book is a collection of essays from different authors covering different, sometimes contradictory, theories on the philosophy of time. A great book to travel with, as it's small, but it takes so long to read each page that it's lasted longer than any journey I have been on so far :-)

I challenge anyone to read the essay about Bleen & Grue without getting confused!!!

[ayyluluu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though I am passionate about philosophy of time, reading this was overall quite pleasureless experience.

It consists of various articles, under the subject of time and tense (McTaggart, Prior and Mellor), relationism (Shoemaker and Forbes), direction of time (Sklar, Dummett, Lewis) and its topology (Le Poidevin, Newton-Smith, MacBeath and Quinton).

This book has some of very important articles, such as the McTaggart’s "Unreality of Time" (1927). There he argues that there cannot be time without A series (present, past, future) and A series cannot exist because nothing can have more than one relation of "presentness/pastness/futureness". Thus "nothing really changes. And nothing is really in time". Then there is Prior, who agrees with McTaggart, that time entails tensed facts, but rejects his argument against those. Then Mellor tries to explain that there is time without tensed facts. I very much enjoyed Shoemaker’s world where there is time without change (where time freezes in one part of the world, but not another), and Lewis’s possible time travel.

Other articles were unenjoyable to read or unconvincing (for instance, proof of "second dimension of time" and example of a sister both older and younger than her brother, or the non-physical time in dreams).

[Nia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think some (most) of this flew over my head but I am glad I read it