Four Degrees of Temporal Becoming

Absolute becoming; Block universe; Dynamic becoming; Passage of time; Relational becoming; Temporal becoming; Philosophy; Social Sciences (all); History and Philosophy of Science

Abstract :

[en] The block universe theory of time is commonly held to be incompatible with temporal becoming. This confuses Maudlin who upholds both eternalism and passage. The aim of this paper is to answer Maudlin’s plea for clarification by distinguishing four degrees of temporal becoming: (1) absolute becoming, (2) relational becoming, (3) presentist becoming, and (4) dynamic becoming. After discussing their respective compatibility with the block universe, I argue that Maudlin subscribes to a much more deflated form of temporal becoming as compared to most philosophers of time. Consequently, his form of becoming is compatible with the block universe, whereas the stronger forms of becoming are not.

Disciplines :

Philosophy & ethics

Author, co-author :

Thyssen, Pieter ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de philosophie > Théorie de la connaissance et philosophie des sciences ; Institut Supérieur de Philosophie, Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Language :

English

Title :

Four Degrees of Temporal Becoming

Publication date :

2025

Journal title :

Journal for General Philosophy of Science

ISSN :

0925-4560

eISSN :

1572-8587

Publisher :

Springer Science and Business Media B.V.

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10838-024-09694-5.pdf

Funders :

FWO - Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen

Funding text :

This work was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, FWO), Grant number G0B8616N \u2018Time, Causality, and Probability in Quantum Mechanics: Assessing Retrocausal Explanations in Light of Recent Experiments\u2019.

Available on ORBi :

since 30 November 2025

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