Editorial

In 1969, T.F. Torrance published Space, Time, and Incarnation. This brought together recent work in philosophy and science on the nature of space and time in order to explore the implications for theology. Torrance’s theology engaged with the scientific thought of Albert Einstein and James Clerk Maxwell, as well as the temporal logic of A.N. Prior. The influence of this work on subsequent Christian theology cannot be overstated. Yet, a great deal has changed since 1969, and most contemporary discussions in systematic theology show little awareness of recent advancements in the metaphysics of time and space.

On the Rationality and Ethics of Nuclear Deterrence

Beginning with a brief outline of the ethical contradictions inherent to nuclear deterrence, this paper highlights the flaws of commonly acknowledged theories regarding the efficiency of nuclear threats. The paper concludes that a theory of “existential deterrence” is the only way to somewhat safeguard the rationality of nuclear deterrence. The backbone of this contention is a metaphysics of time according to which the actual and the potential coincide, and future events necessarily occur. In that framework nuclear deterrence appears to be an ethical abomination.

The Unreality of Time: A Critical Analysis

The problem of the metaphysics of time is whether the time is real or unreal. This paper will introduce some of the major positions and arguments concerning the unreality of time. We all know the external world is constantly changing. ‘Change is the only constant in life’. We get trapped in the illusion of time and space. But in reality, the past isn’t here anymore, the future yet to be seen, only the present moment seems to be real. But present time also flies or passes away very rapidly. Whenever we try to grasp it, it slips away. Before discussing the unreality of time, it is necessary to mention that we will deal with the ‘experience of time’ in this chapter. The mathematical or physicist concept of absolute time would not be discussed here. Firstly, ‘Motion is impossible’ would be discussed from Zeno’s paradox, followed by an effort to connect it with McTaggert’s argument on ‘Unreality of Time’. Then presentism and eternalism would be discussed in reference to the unreality of time.

The Analytical Metaphysics of Time and the Recent Theory of History

The longstanding line of research that the analytic tradition calls metaphysics of time remains quite ignored by the theory of history. To bring them closer, this study proposes to introduce to historians and theorists of history the metaphysics of time theses about the presentism/eternalism and the linear/closed time. For such purpose, we drew correspondences between the theory of history and the analytical metaphysics of time concerning some characteristics of the emerging concepts of historical time. These characteristics are related to the recent debate about presentism regarding the regimes of the historical time (multiple temporalities and pluritemporality); plural time in the analytical metaphysics and synchronous/asynchronous historical time; linear/closed time in the analytic tradition and being affected by historical time. As a result, this article presents how the analytical metaphysics of time theses disclose unnoticed contours related to the history theorists’ understanding about the relation with the past.

The rotten core of presentism

Recently, some have attempted to reformulate debates in first-order metaphysics, particularly in the metaphysics of time and modality, for reasons due to Williamson (Modal logic as metaphysics, Oxford University Press, 2013). In this paper, we focus on the ways in which the likes of Cameron, Correia and Rosenkranz, Deasy, Ingram, Tallant, Viebahn, inter alia, have initiated and responded to attempts to capture the core of presentism using a formal, logical machinery. We argue that such attempts are doomed to fail because there is no theoretical core to presentism. There is no single view or family of views that is presentism.