Thoughts: Philosophy Untangled

Episode #1. Time travel ft. Steph Rennick

Aug 28, 2020
Steph Rennick, a University of Glasgow researcher on time travel and founder of The Epicurean Cure, guides a playful tour of time travel ideas. She explains why philosophers study time travel. She defines temporal discrepancy and four-dimensionalism. She unpacks causal loops, predestination puzzles, and what time travel might mean for free will.
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INSIGHT

Why Time Travel Matters

  • Time travel philosophically exposes deep issues like free will, causation, and foreknowledge.
  • We should study time travel because it's culturally pervasive and philosophically illuminating.
ANECDOTE

Favourite Time-Travel Stories

  • Steph Rennick names Bill and Ted and Harry Potter as favourite philosophically consistent time travel texts.
  • She recommends reaching out for more recent examples rather than spoiling them on-air.
INSIGHT

Time Travel As Time Discrepancy

  • Philosophical time travel is a mismatch between external time and personal time.
  • Four-dimensionalism treats past and future as equally real and events as occurring once but viewable multiple times.
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