The Ontology of Spacetime

This book contains several papers from the First International Conference on Ontology of Spacetime. Its fourteen chapters address two main questions: what is the current and present-day physics and its philosophy? The overall tenor of the book is in the future. Part II and Part III of the book are devoted to presentism, eternalism, and becoming, from two different perspectives. In the six chapters of Part II. It is argued, in different ways, that relativity. It is true that the structure of time is different, according to relativity theory, from the one in classical theory. But it does not mean that it is an impossible concept. It may even be interested in different perspectives at all. The writers of the last four chapters, in Part III, disagree. They argue that relativity theory is incompatible with becoming and presentism. Several of them come to relate to the future.

· Space and time in present-day physics and philosophy
· Introduction from scratch of the debates surrounding time
· Broad spectrum of approaches, coherently represented

Introduction (D. Dieks)
1. The Implications of General Covariance for the Ontology and Ideology of Spacetime (J. Earman)
2. The Disappearance of Space and Time (C. Rovelli)
3. Spacetime Structuralism (J. Bain)
4. Minkowski Space-Time: A Glorious Non-Entity (HR Brown and O. Pooley)
5. The Irrelavance of the Presentist / Eternalist Debate for the Ontology of Minkowski Spacetime (M. Dorato)
6. Presentism and Eternalism in Perspective (SF Savitt)
7. Minkowski Spacetime and the Dimensions of the Present (RTW Arthur)
8. Becoming, Relativity and Locality (D. Dieks)
9. Relativity Theory and the Tenseless / Tensed Debate (Y. Dolev)
10. Philosophical Consequences of the Twins Paradox (S. McCall)
11. Is There an Alternative to the Block Universe View? (V. Petkov)
12. Special Relativity, Time, Probabilism, and Ultimate Reality (N. Maxwell)
13. Temporal Presentness and the Dynamics of Spacetime (KA Peacock)
14. Presentism and Quantum Gravity (B. Monton)