Three Varieties of Growing Block Theory

Abstract

Growing Block (GB) theorists are committed, roughly, to two theses: (1) that past and present events exist and that future events do not, and (2) that the present is dynamic and constantly changing. These two theses support a picture of the universe as growing, gaining in more and more things and events, as these recede into the past; but the two theses do not specify how the growth of the block is to be understood (Q1); what status the past is supposed to have compared to the present (Q2); and what should be taken to be the fundamental constituents of the spatio-temporal reality (Q3). In my paper I argue that getting clearer on these three questions—Q1, Q2, and Q3—will give us very different metaphysical pictures. I distinguish between three variants of the growing block theory: the Fourdimensional Growing Block which goes back to C.D. Broad; the Dead Past Growing Block which is currently defended by Forrest and Forbes; and the Growing Events theory, which draws on some of Whitehead’s ideas on processes. I flesh out each of these variants of the GB view, examine the most urgent challenges to their respective metaphysical pictures, and offer suggestions as to how these challenges can be positively addressed.