Experiencing Time
ISBN: 9780198748946
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Philosophy Metaphysics/ Epistemology Philosophy of Mind;

Our engagement with time is a ubiquitous feature of our lives. We are aware of time on many scales, from the briefest flicker of change to the way our lives unfold over many years. But to what extent does this encounter reveal the true nature of temporal reality? To the extent that temporal reality is as it seems, how do we come to be aware of it? And to the extent that temporal reality is not as it seems, why does it seem that way? These are the central questionsaddressed by Simon Prosser in Experiencing Time. He defends the B-theory of time, according to which the apparently dynamic quality of change, the special status of the present, and even the passageof time are all illusions. Prosser goes on to explore solutions to certain puzzles raised by experiences of temporal features such as changes, rates, and durations, and in doing so sheds light on broader issues in the philosophy of mind.

Simon Prosser studied physics at the University of Birmingham and then philosophy at the University of Warwick and also, for one year, in Paris. He moved from physics to philosophy after realising that the big questions that interested him concerning time, space, and other matters were really philosophical questions rather than questions in physics. He now works at the University of St Andrews. His research is mainly in the philosophy of mind, but he also hasinterests in metaphysics. He has written on consciousness, temporal experience, the metaphysics of time, indexical thoughts, the nature of concepts, and the metaphysics of emergent properties.

hidden image for function call