Event Detail

In this lecture, I discuss Aristotle’s views on the relation between movement and the present. Aristotle argues that the present is, strictly speaking, an instantaneous division between the past and the future (a ‘now’). A period of time only counts as present because it contains the now that is strictly speaking present. But Aristotle also argues, in Physics VI.3, that nothing is moving in the now. This raises a question as to how Aristotle can account for the truth of present tense movement claims. In this lecture, I begin to spell out Aristotle’s answer to this question. I argue that, for Aristotle, any time in which X is moving must be a time in which X makes some progress in its movement, and I suggest a reason why Aristotle might think this.