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Neither presentism nor eternalism. (English) Zbl 1434.83016

Summary: Is reality three-dimensional and becoming real (presentism), or is reality four-dimensional and becoming illusory (eternalism)? Both options raise difficulties. I argue that we do not need to be trapped by this dilemma. There is a third possibility: reality has a more complex temporal structure than either of these two naive options. Fundamental becoming is real, but local and unoriented. A notion of present is well defined, but only locally and in the context of approximations.

MSC:

83C05 Einstein’s equations (general structure, canonical formalism, Cauchy problems)
81P05 General and philosophical questions in quantum theory
00A30 Philosophy of mathematics

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