Arguments Against Presentism

Presentism is the metaphysical view that “only presently existing things exist”1. While this view is coherent with Newton’s theory of spacetime, it faces some challenges when combined with the Theory of Special relativity (STR). In this essay, I will first articulate more specifically the thesis of presentism and show the main arguments of the opposite position known as eternalism. I will then outline the special theory and its consequences for the metaphysics of presentism. I will consider some of the problems that presentism faces in the relativistic context by considering Putnam’s “man on the street” argument. From there I will address some of the solutions to these problems proposed by presentists. Ultimately I look to demonstrate that
He does so by showing that the relations that the presentist takes to relate present points must either apply to all points or only relate each point to itself. His argument goes as
Presentism is commonly accepted because is characterized by an intuition that is applicable in the scale of our human experience. At the scale we live at, we do not experience the relativistic effects therefore we approximate our experiences to the pre­ relativistic Newtonian theory. Nonetheless, at a larger scale presentism fails to capture the truth of reality as STR comes into play. Even if we do not experience it directly, STR is one of the strongest confirmed physical theories and should be a starting point to build a metaphysical theory which is consistent with the physical one. So, it is better to give up the metaphysics of presentism and to adopt a four dimensional view rather than make attempts to preserve or refine the definition of the present, particularly as it leads to problems with relativizing existence. For these reasons I support the eternalist view as the most successful view as opposed to