ABSTRACT

The first edition (2001) of this title quickly established itself on courses on the philosophy of time and space. This fully revised and expanded new edition sees the addition of chapters on Zeno's paradoxes, speculative contemporary developments in physics, and dynamic time, making the second edition, once again, unrivalled in its breadth of coverage. Surveying both historical debates and the ideas of modern physics, Barry Dainton evaluates the central arguments in a clear and unintimidating way and is careful to keep the conceptual issues throughout comprehensible to students with little scientific or mathematical training. The book makes the philosophy of space and time accessible for anyone trying to come to grips with the complexities of this challenging subject. With over 100 original line illustrations and a full glossary of terms, the book has the requirements of students firmly in sight and will continue to serve as an essential textbook for philosophy of time and space courses.

chapter 1|12 pages

Preliminaries

chapter 2|14 pages

McTaggart on time's unreality

chapter 3|17 pages

The Block universe

chapter 4|19 pages

Asymmetries within time

chapter 5|5 pages

Tensed time

chapter 6|35 pages

Dynamic time

chapter 7|18 pages

Time and consciousness

chapter 8|24 pages

Time travel

chapter 9|19 pages

Conceptions of void

chapter 10|18 pages

Space: the classical debate

chapter 11|12 pages

Absolute motion

chapter 12|19 pages

Motion in spacetime

chapter 13|20 pages

Curved space

chapter 14|12 pages

Tangible space

chapter 15|22 pages

Spatial anti-realism

chapter 16|22 pages

Zeno and the continuum I

chapter 17|24 pages

Zeno and the continuum II

chapter 18|15 pages

Special relativity

chapter 19|15 pages

Relativity and reality

chapter 20|25 pages

General relativity

chapter 21|19 pages

Spacetime metaphysics

chapter 22|20 pages

Strings