12:41 p.m.
We are pleased to announce that on Friday September 22 at 17:30 (CET), Florian Fischer
(Universität Siegen) will give the talk Dynamicity as part of the Lugano Philosophy
Colloquia Fall 2023 organised by the Institute of Philosophy (ISFI) at USI.
This hybrid talk will take place in USI West Campus and online via Zoom. If you are
interested in joining it online, please write to amm.isfi(a)usi.ch
For more information: https://www.usi.ch/en/feeds/25721
Here is the abstract of the talk:
Our understanding of time encompasses two related but clearly separated aspects which
have, famously, been dubbed A- and B-time. A-time focuses on the difference between past,
present and future and can thus be characterized as temporal direction; B-time is
concerned with temporal order, manifested by the earlier/later relation. The contemporary
debate about A- and B-time is best understood as a question of metaphysical
fundamentality. While one sides tries to reduce B-notions to A-notions, the other tries to
eliminate A-notions in favor of B-notions.
My project on the metaphysics of time, entitled “dynamicity”, goes one step further.
Dynamicity is the ultimate basis for both A- and B-time, and must therefor be
characterized presupposing neither A- nor B-notions. This means, that any kind of
multiplicity is ruled out, as this would constitute a form of (temporal) order; and any
kind of teleology is ruled out, as this would constitute a form of direction.
The ultimate goal of the project is to reduce A-time to dynamicity and then reduce B-time
to A-time. In my talk, I will focus on the first step, as there is already a debate about
the second. I will give an account of dynamicity and outline how to develop A-time from
dynamicity. It turns out that the pre-temporal concept of dynamicity is so abstract, that
it can be utilized in additional contexts. So to better understand these concepts, I will
end the talk with sketching the dynamicity account of modality.