Advanced Subjects in Philosophy and Cognitive Science

Code
570504
Credits
5cr

Goals

The course consists of a one-week intensive introduction to the topics of the course, given by Sven Rosenkranz, followed by a one-week intensive course given by Prof. Fabrice Correia from the University of Geneva, Switzerland. The aim of the course is to cover some of the main currents in contemporary metaphysics of time, with special emphasis on realist theories of tense, permanentist and temporaryist ontologies, the logic and semantics of future contingents, and the extent to which relativistic physics poses a threat to certain metaphysical theories of time.

 

Course plan

1. Views about tensed discourse

2. The A-theory and the B-theory of time

3. Temporal ontology: presentism, the growing block theory, and permanentism

4. The problem of future contingents

5. Identity through time

6. Time travel

7. A-theories and B-theories of time in a relativistic setting

 

The course will combine lectures given by the course instructors with seminar-like discussions to which students are expected to actively contribute.

 

Assessment


Evaluation will be based on active participation in class and a final essay, of around 3000 words, on a pertinent question to be agreed with the course instructors.

 

Bibliography

A definite reading list will be distributed before the Christmas break. But the following titles are anyway well worth having a look at beforehand. An engaging, easily accessible book on the metaphysics of time is

  • Mellor, H., Real Time II, London 1998: Routledge.

Students may also want to read the articles in the section on ‘Time, Space-Time, and Persistence’ of

  • Loux, M. J. and Zimmerman, D. W. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics, Oxford 2003: Oxford University Press.

An excellent collection of more recent essays on the philosophy of time is

  • Callender, C. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Time, Oxford 2011: Oxford University Press.

A good selection of older but very influential texts on the topics of the course can be found in the section on time in:

  • Van Inwagen, P. and Zimmerman, D. W. (eds.), Metaphysics: The Big Questions, 2nd edition, Oxford 2008: Wiley-Blackwell