PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINAR, M. U j v a r i

Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University Budapest, Pazmany P. setany 1/A PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE SEMINAR (http://hps.elte.hu/seminar) ________________________________________________ 28 May 4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54 (Language: English, except all participants speak Hungarian) M a r t a U j v a r i Philosophy, Budapest University of Economic Sciences Time, Tense and the 'Indexical Fallacy' in McTaggart's Argument The tenser-detenser debate has got impetus from the new indexical, token reflexive analysis of tensed language which renders the truth conditions of tensed sentences in tenseless terms. According to detensers like Mellor and Poidevin what Taggart's argument shows is that the A-series account of time is a misconstrual leading to regress. Tenser E.J. Lowe, however, argues that the A-regress cannot even have a start since it rests on the indexical fallacy of using compound tenses. His claim, roughly, is that temporal indexicals just like any other indexicals cannot be iterated without violating the contextual constraints on the use, as opposed to the mention, of indexicals. Further, Lowe claims that extending Taggart's fallacious argument to space and personality one could equally argue for the irreality of places and persons. I will show that Lowe's argument is incoherent. When introducing the indexical fallacy he makes appeal to the analogy between temporal and other indexicals. But when he defends the tensed view he makes appeal to Taggart's first two premises ( 1. time involves change essentially; 2.change can be explained only in terms of the A-series) which invite a disanalogy between temporal and other indexicals. So, the indexical fallacy cannot be repeated, pace Lowe, for space and person within the context of McTaggart's argument. Consequently, the threat of the irreality of places and persons does not arise along taggartian lines. The other conclusion with broader implications is that even the indexical analysis shows the specific metaphysical character of time in consonance with the metaphysical tradition. The organizer of the seminar: László E. Szabó -- Laszlo E. Szabo Department of Theoretical Physics Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University, Budapest H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32, Hungary Phone/Fax: (36-1)372-2924 Home: (36-1) 200-7318 Mobil/SMS: (36) 20-366-1172 http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo