Four-Dimensionalism

An Ontology of Persistence and Time

By: Theodore Sider

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Hardcover | 25 October 2001

At a Glance

Hardcover
280 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.59 x 13.97 x 1.91

Hardcover

$199.05

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Four-Dimensionalism defends the thesis that the material world is composed of temporal as well as spatial parts. This defense includes a novel account of persistence over time, new arguments in favour of the four-dimensional ontology, and responses to the challenges four-dimensionalism faces. Theodore Sider pays particular attention to the philosophy of time, including a strong series of arguments against presentism, the thesis that only the present is real. Arguments offered in favour of four-dimensionalism include novel arguments based on time travel, the debate beween spacetime substantivalists and relationalists, and vagueness. Also included is a comprehensive discussion of the paradoxes of coinciding material objects, and a novel resolution of those paradoxes based on temporal counterpart theory. In conclusion Sider replies to prominent objections to four-dimensionalism, including discussion of the problem of the rotating homogenous disk.Four Dimensionalism is an original and highly readable study of the metaphysics of time and identity.

Industry Reviews

`Sider has a number of good original arguments ... also he has done a good job of collecting arguments from a large and messy literature, including some that are often mentioned but never properly stated ... Sider has also done us all a service by thinking of a way of defining four-dimensionalism that ought to be acceptable to its opponents.' The Philosophical Quarterly `Dimensionally-challenged it may be, rigorous and analytic it certainly is, but many of the conclusions reached are startling ... His claim is that [four-dimensionalism] yields a more coherent ontology than any of its competitors. His defence of this claim is impressive: bold, clear, wide-ranging and fair-minded; it is the best of its kind on offer.' Barry Dainton, Times Literary Supplement

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