Eternalism (philosophy of time)

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/eternalism-philosophy-of-time

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the philosophical framework?Eternalism is a metaphysical theory concerning the ontological status of temporal entities
2. What is the theoretical model?Often conceptualized as the 'block universe' or 'block time' theory
3. What is eternalism?Eternalism says that every moment of time—past, present, and future—is real and exists, like all pages in a big book.
4. How does eternalism differ from presentism?Presentism says only the present moment is real, while eternalism says the past, present, and future are all equally real.

Ontological Status: The philosophical determination of whether something exists and how it exists.
Manifold: A mathematical space that locally resembles Euclidean space, used to describe spacetime.
Determinism: The philosophical idea that all events are causally determined by preceding events and conditions.