Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper criticizes an argument recently presented by Ross Cameron. The argument purports to show that, if time is gunky (that is, if there are no time atoms), and if changes in existence are underwritten by events of coming to be, then there are cases of indeterminate existence. The putative reason is that, if time is gunky, then events of coming to be cannot be instantaneous, and hence, changes in existence must be gradual, non-clear-cut. The paper argues that this argument conflates two different readings of “event of coming to be”. Under one reading, the argument is unsound. Under the other, the argument is valid only if a further, nontrivial premise is added, which concerns the relation between time atoms, instants, and instantaneous events.

Highlights

  • The aim of this paper is to criticize an argument presented in a recent book by Ross Cameron (2015)

  • The second part of the reasoning leads from intermediate conclusion (IC) to (C): what should we say about the status of A during this event? Not that it exists [...] for it would have already come to be

  • It is useful to focus on a key assumption Cameron makes in this part, namely: (3) There is a difference in A’s being from before and after the time at which the event of A’s coming to be begins; that is, the beginning of the event of A’s coming to be marks a difference in the ontological status of A

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Summary

Introduction

The aim of this paper is to criticize an argument presented in a recent book by Ross Cameron (2015). If time is gunky, there are no instants, and so: (IC) No event of coming to be is instantaneous.

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