Is the Past Determined (Necessary)?

Jan Woleński

doi:10.18290/rf.2018.66.4-10en

Published : 2018-11-28

Vol. 66 No. 4 (2018)

Is the Past Determined (Necessary)?

Jan Woleński

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7676-7839

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf.2018.66.4-10en

Abstract

This paper is inspired by Marcin Tkaczyk’s works and discusses the problem of the necessity of the past (is the past determined?) and its role in the analysis of future contingents. The discussion centers on the statements (accepted by Tkaczyk, but slightly paraphrased)) firstly, that every past state of affairs is determined, and, secondly, that at least some future states of affairs are contingent. The paper argues that because the first assertion is not justified, the antinomy of future contingents does not arise. The argument uses modal and metalogical devices.

Keywords:

past, future, logical square, incompleteness, bivalence

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Woleński, J. (2018). Is the Past Determined (Necessary)?. Roczniki Filozoficzne, 66(4), 183–195. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf.2018.66.4-10en

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References

Muller, Richard A. 2016. Teraz. Fizyka czasu. Translated by Tomasz Krzysztoń. Warszawa: Prószyński i S-ka. (The English original Now. The Physics of Time was published in 2016 by W.W. Norton & Company.)

Tkaczyk, Marcin. 2015. Futura contingentia. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL.

Tkaczyk M. 2018. “The Antinomy of Future Contingent Events.” Roczniki Filozoficzne 66, no. 4: 5–38 (the current volume).

Woleński, Jan. 1996. “Kwadrat logiczny – uogólnienia, interpretacje.” In Logika & Filozofia logiczna, edited by Jerzy Perzanowski and Andrzej Pietruszczak, 45–57. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika.

Woleński, Jan. 2008. “Applications of Squares of Oppositions and Their Generalizations in Philosophical Analysis.” Logica Universalis 2, no. 1: 13–29. (Reprinted in: Jan Woleński. Essays on Logic and Its Applications in Philosophy. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2011, 255–69).

Woleński, Jan. 2015. “An Analysis of Logical Determinism.” In Themes from Ontology, Mind and Logic. Present and Past. Essays in Honour of Peter Simons, edited by Sandra Lapointe, 423–42. Leiden: Brill.