Introduction 9
Acknowledgments 21
1. Presentism, Eternalism, and the Triviality Problem 221. Introduction 22
2. What does “to exist” mean? 23
3. Final remarks 35
2. Weak Interactions: Asymmetry of Time or Asymmetry in Time? 371. Introduction 37
2. The direct evidence for time reversal violation of weak interactions 38
3. Is time itself asymmetric because of existence of time-asymmetric laws? 40
3.1 Horwich’s gambit 40
3.2 Sakharov to the rescue 44
3.3 Detour strategy 46
3.4 Sklar’s general argument 50
3.5 Horwich’s main assumption revisited 52
4. Conclusions 54
3. Presentism and the Flow of Time 561. Introduction 56
2. Is the existence of the flow of time necessary for presentism? 58
3. Is the existence of becoming a sufficient condition for presentism? 63
4. Conclusions 67
4. Presentism and the Notion of Existence 681. Introduction 68
2. St. Augustine’s challenge 70
3. Presentism, flow of time, and dynamic existence 73
4. St. Augustine’s questions revisited: a new insight into the nature of time? 83
5. Dynamic existence and empirical sciences 85
6. Conclusions 93
5. Meyer’s Struggle with Presentism or How We Can Understand the Debate between Presentism and Eternalism 951. Introduction: Meyer’s objection 95
2. Meyer’s objection extended 98
3. Meyer’s objection refuted 98
4. How can we understand the debate between presentism and eternalism? 109
5. The triviality objection once again: conclusions 111
6. Dynamic Presentism and the Grounding Objection 1121. Introduction 112
2. Past-tense propositions and the grounding objection 114
3. Presentism and dynamic existence 118
4. In support of metaphysical category of past things and past facts 125
5. Conclusions 128
7. Brute Past Presentism, Dynamic Presentism, and the Objection from Being-Supervenience 1291. Introduction 129
2. The problem: diagnosis 130
3. A remedy with an extra bonus 135
4. Conclusions 142
8. Entropy and the Direction of Time 1451. Introduction: the asymmetry of time and the asymmetry in time 145
2. The increase of entropy as a process asymmetrical in time 148
3. Final remarks 153
Bibliography 158
Index of Subjects 169
Index of Names 173