Philosophy Colloquia Series to Feature Ben Caplan

Illinois State University’s Department of Philosophy Colloquia Series will feature Ben Caplan of Ohio State University presenting “The Way Things Were” on Friday, Feb. 22, at 4 p.m. in 209 Turner Hall.  The presentation is free and open to the public.

Caplan’s presentation will explore the following ideas: “Presentists say that only the present is real. Saying that might seem like a pretty good way of accounting for what is special about the present, but it might also seem like a pretty bad way of accounting for anything about the past. In this paper, we argue against several attempts that presentists have made to explain the truth of true propositions about the past. We suggest that, to explain the truth of those propositions, presentists should appeal to what no longer exists.”