Wiliams on the Passage of Time

I. Introduction

In his paper “The Myth of Passage,” Donald C. Williams argues against the passage of time as it is understood by many proponents of the A-theory of time.[1] One argument in particular that Williams offers is that there is no sense to be made of the notion that time itself moves. Given this, Williams argues that there is no such thing as the passage of time. He further argues that if the A-series of time exists, then there is the passage of time. He concludes that the A-series does not exist. In this post, I will give a reconstruction of Williams’ argument and offer an evaluation of it. In particular, I will offer criticisms of Williams’ argument as well as ways in which Williams can respond to such criticisms. Ultimately, however, I conclude that Williams’ argument does not succeed.

An Anti-Verificationist Critique of Einstein’s Argument Against Absolute Simultaneity

I. Introduction

In his classic book Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, Albert Einstein gave a famous argument for the relativity of simultaneity, i.e., for the thesis that the simultaneity/non-simultaneity of two events in time at different locations in space is relative to the reference frame that the events are observed in and that not all reference frames will be in agreement with respect to which events are simultaneous/non-simultaneous. Further, Einstein argues that all reference frames are equally valid and that the notion of frame-transcendent simultaneity is meaningless. Einstein concludes from all of this that there is no relation of absolute simultaneity. In this post, I shall give a detailed summary and logical reconstruction of Einstein’s argumentation and then offer a critique of it. I will argue that Einstein’s conclusion that there is no relation of absolute simultaneity relies on the logical positivist principle of verification. Insofar as this principle is false (as is widely acknowledged), Einstein’s argument fails to show that there is no relation of absolute simultaneity and is thus unsound. As will be seen, this failure has some important upshots.