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Becoming, relativity and locality

Dieks, Dennis (2005) Becoming, relativity and locality. [Preprint]

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Abstract

It is a central aspect of our ordinary concept of time that history unfolds and events come into being. It is only natural to take this seriously. However, it is notoriously difficult to explain further what this `becoming' consists in, or even to show that the notion is consistent at all. In this article I first argue that the idea of a global temporal ordering, involving a succession of cosmic nows, is not indispensable for our concept of time. Our experience does not support the existence of global simultaneity and arguments from modern physics further support the conclusion that time should not be seen as a succession of cosmic nows. Accordingly, I propose that if we want to make sense of becoming we should attempt to interpret it as something purely local. Second, I address the question of what this local becoming consists in. I maintain that processes of becoming are nothing but the successive happening of events, and that this happening of events consists entirely in the occurring of these events at their own spacetime locations. This leads to a consistent view of becoming, which is applicable even to rather pathological spacetimes.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Dieks, Dennis
Additional Information: To appear in volume "The Ontology of Spacetime"
Keywords: Time, tense, relativity, Goedel. becoming
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Specific Sciences > Physics
Depositing User: Dennis Dieks
Date Deposited: 15 Nov 2005
Last Modified: 07 Oct 2010 15:13
Item ID: 2533
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology
Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory
Specific Sciences > Physics
Date: December 2005
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2533

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