Abstract Power theorists are divided among those who think that a dispositionalist metaphysics imbues the physical world with a dynamic and active aspect, and those who deny that. So far there has been little success in clarifying the exact nature of the two positions and their disagreement beyond trading metaphors. In this paper we suggest that one way to elucidate the idea that powers are dynamic and active is to think that a robust conception of change must play a central role in power-based explanations. We use the grounding of modality as an example. We claim that friends of dynamic powers should embrace a specific version of Dispositionalism, one in which the modal facts change over time. We then argue that this view entails an especially strong version of Necessitism and Permanentism. In turn, according to an influential view in the philosophy of time, this amounts to adopting a Moving Spotlight Theory of time. We provide some details of this power-based moving spotlight theory, its features, and potential flaws.
Azzano et al. (Wed,) studied this question.