Presentism and Special Relativity

Presentism is one of the most influential views on the nature of time. It claims, roughly, that only the present exists. It is widely held that special relativity is highly problematic for presentism. I show that arguments to this end rely on interpretations the presentist need not accept. I further show that a spatial hyperplane – which is roughly what amounts to a moment in time when sketched in the context of special relativity – is the best geometry with which to formulate presentism. This is done by showing that postulating any other geometry results in the world needing to have an undetectable set of laws governing the true motions of objects. These hidden laws are at odds with the truth of special relativity and thus would undercut our reason for accepting special relativity in the first place. This then fixes what the presentist should think their view amounts to in the context of special relativity and sets the proper stage for the debate between presentists and their opponents in the light of modern physics.