McTaggart and Presentism

I've been doing some research on McTaggart's Paradox and its relation to presentism.  Bill Craig thinks that the best response to McTaggart's Paradox is to endorse presentism.

Question 1: Which articles do people take to be the most clear, penetrating, and helpful discussions of McTaggart's Paradox?  I'd like to understand it better.

Question 2: I've read most of Craig's stuff on the topic relating McTaggart's Paradox to presentism.  Is anybody aware of other authors who have written on their relation?  Which articles would you recommend?

Comments

[Bryan]

For a very entertaining pair of articles, try John Earman's "Thoroughly Modern McTaggart" [1] and Tim Maudlin's response: "Thoroughly Muddled McTaggart" [2]. Earman argues that general relativity presents a number of problems for the B-series passage of time. Maudlin offers a rebuttle. Both may be freely downloaded from Philosopher's Imprint.

Also, don't forget to check out Savitt's Stanford Encyclopedia entry on Being and Becoming [3], which has an excellent bibliography.

References:
[1]http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=phimp;cc=phimp;rgn=main;view=text;idno=3521354.0002.003

[2]http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=phimp;cc=phimp;rgn=main;view=text;idno=3521354.0002.004

[3]http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-bebecome/

[Andrew Moon]

Bryan,
Thanks for the references! I'll be sure to check them out.

[Gerald Deutsch]

Check out:

The A-Theory of Time, The B-Theory of Time,
and ‘Taking Tense Seriously’
Dean W. Z
immerman
†

http://fas-philosophy.rutgers.edu/zimmerman/A-Theory.B-Theory.Tense.pdf

[Nathan Oaklander]

Hi Andrew,
In my book, The Ontology of Time, I give an explanation of McTaggart's Paradox (and respond to SAvitt's "A Limited Defense of Passage,") in "McTaggart's Paradox Defended." In the same book I reply to Craig's presentism in:

1. “Presentism: A Critique,” in Hallvard Lillehammer and G. Rodriguez Pereyra (eds.) Real Metaphysics: Essays in Honour of D. H. Mellor, With His Replies (London: Routledge, 2002): 196-211. Reprinted in L. Nathan Oaklander, The Ontology of Time (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2004): 101-115.

2. “Presentism, Ontology and Temporal Experience," in Craig Callender (ed.) The Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 50, Time, Reality, and Experience (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002): 73-90. Reprinted in L. Nathan Oaklander, The Ontology of Time (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2004): 83-99.

3. “Craig on McTaggart’s Paradox and the Problem of Temporary Intrinsics,” Analysis, 59, 4 (October, 1999): 314-318. Reprinted in L. Nathan Oaklander, The Ontology of Time (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2004):

I am about to begin on a paper on Crisp's version of presentism and his reponse to McTaggart in his review of The Ontology of Time in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.

Good luck in your research.

L. Nathan Oaklander

[Rögnvaldur Ingthorsson]

Hi Andrew

I could recommend my article "McTaggart and the Unreality of Time" in Axiomathes 9(3): 275-385. If you have access to Springer Link you can find it there, otherwise contact me on rognvaldur.ingthorsson@kost.umu.se and I'll mail you a pdf-file.

Best

Valdi

[Andrew Moon]

Thanks very much everybody for the references! Maybe I'll post on some of the material shortly.

[benj]

Ignore everything except Kit Fine's 'Tense and reality'.

[amrit sorli]

Hi Andrew

In Mc Taggart view on time there is no contradiction according to my research.

yours amrit