Tensed Attitudes and Future-Biased Preferences

Abstract This chapter considers two IBE Arguments to the conclusion that the world is dynamical. The first, the Attitude IBE Argument, says that the best explanation of judging certain attitudes, namely tensed attitudes, to be fitting, or not, is that they are (or are not) fitting, and that if the world were a block world, those attitudes could not be fitting and so the best explanation of people’s judgements is that the world is dynamical. The second IBE Argument, the Preference IBE Argument, says that the best explanation of having certain preferences, namely future-biased preferences, and judging them to be appropriate is that they are appropriate. But, such preferences could only be appropriate if the world is dynamical, and so the best explanation for having those preferences and judging them to be appropriate is that the world is dynamical; and so the chapter should conclude that the world is dynamical. The chapter introduces tensed attitudes and future-biased preferences, and reflects on new empirical evidence regarding the latter. It argues that the claim that they could only be fitting/appropriate if the world is dynamical should be rejected. It then argues that what would render them so are perspectival facts, which obtain in both dynamical and block worlds. Finally, the chapter argues that there are good evolutionary cum psychological explanation for having the attitudes and preferences people do, which in no way rely on the notion of robust passage. So, both IBE Arguments should be resisted.