Overview

It is a trite fact that changes do occur, yet is it logically contradictory to deny that they do? If Zeno and McTaggart were right, then there is no logical contradiction in such a denial, although this is incompatible with the way in which we normally think of the world. Supporters of the `block view' of the universe believe that there is a sense in which all events may be said to be contemporaneous, like episodes in a book, so that there is no `objective' past or future. The aim of this book is not to demolish belief in the existence of objective change, but to elucidate the conditions under which it makes sense to suppose that changes occur. The book pays particular attention to the existence of selves as one such condition, and concludes that the naturalistic account of change is defective and leaves the sceptic victorious.

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9780198242499

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Reviews

'he presents a fairly exhaustive critique of the efforts of monism, pluralism, functionalism, teleology, evolutionary theory and developmentalism to account for change ... a novel, lucid approach to an age-old philosophical problem ... new ground is undoubtedly broken here' Cogito, Sprin 1991 `very rich ... in the metaphysical issues it touches upon' Laird Addis, University of Iowa `absorbing and provocative' Times Literary Supplement

'absorbing and provocative' Times Literary Supplement 'very rich ... in the metaphysical issues it touches upon' Laird Addis, University of Iowa 'he presents a fairly exhaustive critique of the efforts of monism, pluralism, functionalism, teleology, evolutionary theory and developmentalism to account for change ... a novel, lucid approach to an age-old philosophical problem ... new ground is undoubtedly broken here' Cogito, Sprin 1991

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