Fatalism, Time Travel, and System J
Fatalism, Time Travel, and System J
This chapter describes the similarity between fatalists and time travelers, and presents David Foster Wallace's opinion concerning the error within this comparison. Fatalists regard the future like the past while time travelers regard the past like the future. This mirroring of the fatalist and time traveler suggests that both positions seem counterintuitive about what one can and cannot do. Richard Taylor expounded on this similarity in his response to the “Ability Criticism,” where he noted that people are all fatalists about the past. In “Richard Taylor's ‘Fatalism’ and the Semantics of Physical Modality,” David Foster Wallace points out the flaw between the comparison of the two using System J., saying that if Taylor's fatalist conclusion (all actions and inactions are necessary) involves a different sort of modality than the modality operating in his fifth premise, then his argument is rendered invalid.
Keywords: David Foster Wallace, time traveler, fatalist, Richard Taylor, System J.
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