The Dynamic Block Universe: Change Independent of Passage

The world appears to be in a constant state of flux, with objects changing and events unfolding over time. I refer to this characterisation as the Manifest Dynamic World . I have argued elsewhere that the Manifest Dynamic World involves two fundamentally distinct kinds of dynamism that cannot be reduced to one another: the dynamic character of change and the dynamic character of time . The former concerns the dynamic aspect of objects changing and moving, while the latter concerns the sense of events changing their temporal position. If I am correct, we should adopt what I call the Independence Approach , according to which each distinct kind of dynamism presented in the Manifest Dynamic World must be explained on its own terms, thereby avoiding the conflation of two fundamentally different phenomena. I argue that the block universe contains genuinely dynamic processes, which in turn account for the dynamic character of change. By contrast, I suggest that the dynamic character of time is a false belief generated by our cognitive system. Thus, the Manifest Dynamic World consists of veridical dynamic experiences of objects changing and moving, jointly with a false belief, generated by our cognitive system, that events change their temporal position.