Questions of time and tense /

Le Poidevin (Univ. of Leeds) has edited a remarkable collection of essays on the contemporary metaphysical debate concerning the status of our commonsense understanding of time as divided into past, present, and future. On one side, "tensed" theorists contend that intuitive understanding of time's flow is to be taken as a fundamental aspect of reality. On the other side, "tenseless" theorists view reality and human judgments about temporal phenomenon in terms of unchanging temporal facts. Many of the contributors to this volume, among them William Lane Craig, Paul Helm, Jeremy Butterfield, E.J. Lowe, Quentin Smith, and L. Nathan Oaklander, are leading figures in the philosophy of time. The topics covered include the following: the history of the time problem beginning with McTaggart's A-series and B-series, the experience of time, time and contemporary physics, time and morality, and God's relation to time. An introduction by Le Poidevin, a short bibliography, and an index of names enhance the quality of this well-produced volume. Most appropriate for upper-division undergraduates and beyond. L. B. McHenry; Loyola Marymount University