Eternalism and Perspectival Realism about the 'Now'

TL;DR

The paper argues that the concept of the 'now' is perspectivally real, supported by special relativity and Doppler effect analogies, offering a new ontological perspective on time.

Contribution

It introduces perspectival realism as a solution to the problem of the 'now' in eternalism, contrasting it with fragmentalist interpretations of relativity.

Findings

Lorentz transformations are analogous to Doppler effect equations.

The 'now' is perspectivally real like electromagnetic spectrum frequency.

Perspectival realism provides a more credible ontology of time.

Abstract

Eternalism is the view that all times are equally real. The relativity of simultaneity in special relativity backs this up. There is no cosmically extended, self-existing 'now'. This leads to a tricky problem. What makes statements about the present true? I shall approach the problem along the lines of perspectival realism and argue that the choice of the perspective does. To corroborate this point, the Lorentz transformations of special relativity are compared to the structurally similar equations of the Doppler effect. The 'now' is perspectivally real in the same way as a particular electromagnetic spectrum frequency. I also argue that the ontology of time licensed by perspectival realism is more credible in this context than its current alternative, the fragmentalist interpretation of special relativity.