•  75
    Review: Presentism and Relativity (review)
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 54 (2): 327-346. 2003.
    In this critical notice we argue against William Craig's recent attempt to reconcile presentism (roughly, the view that only the present is real) with relativity theory. Craig's defense of his position boils down to endorsing a 'neo-Lorentzian interpretation' of special relativity. We contend that his reconstruction of Lorentz's theory and its historical development is fatally flawed and that his arguments for reviving this theory fail on many counts.
  •  437
    Presentism and relativity (review)
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 54 (2): 327-346. 2003.
    In this critical notice we argue against William Craig's recent attempt to reconcile presentism (roughly, the view that only the present is real) with relativity theory. Craig's defense of his position boils down to endorsing a ‘neo-Lorentzian interpretation’ of special relativity. We contend that his reconstruction of Lorentz's theory and its historical development is fatally flawed and that his arguments for reviving this theory fail on many counts. 1 Rival theories of time 2 Relativity and th…Read more
  •  286
    The Boundaries of Meaning: A Case Study in Neural Machine Translation
    Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 66. 2022.
    The success of deep learning in natural language processing raises intriguing questions about the nature of linguistic meaning and ways in which it can be processed by natural and artificial systems. One such question has to do with subword segmentation algorithms widely employed in language modeling, machine translation, and other tasks since 2016. These algorithms often cut words into semantically opaque pieces, such as ‘period’, ‘on’, ‘t’, and ‘ist’ in ‘period|on|t|ist’. The system then repre…Read more
  •  259
    Neural machine translation (NMT) is one of the success stories of deep learning and artificial intelligence. Revolutionary innovations in the computational architectures made in 2015–2017 have led to dramatic improvements in the quality of machine translation (MT) and changed the field forever. Some professional translators welcome these changes with enthusiasm, others less so. But everyone has to deal with them. Historically, the relationship between human translation and MT has been uneasy and…Read more
  •  19
    The Translator’s Extended Mind
    Minds and Machines 30 (3): 349-383. 2020.
    The rapid development of natural language processing in the last three decades has drastically changed the way professional translators do their work. Nowadays most of them use computer-assisted translation or translation memory tools whose evolution has been overshadowed by the much more sensational development of machine translation systems, with which TM tools are sometimes confused. These two language technologies now interact in mutually enhancing ways, and their increasing role in human tr…Read more
  •  62
    Common Sense and Relativistic Supercoincidence
    In Rik Peels, Jeroen de Ridder & René van Woudenberg (eds.), Scientific Challenges to Common Sense Philosophy, Routledge. 2020.
    Debates about material coincidence tend to start with common-sense intuitions but quickly leave them behind and lead to highly problematic conclusions. Reconciling the latter with common sense is the next stage in the process, which often requires revision of some of the initial beliefs and has been used to adjudicate many rather abstract and technical proposals in the metaphysics of composition and persistence, ranging from natural (constitutionalism) to radical (nihilism). I have no disagreeme…Read more
  •  75
    The Common Present in a Block Universe
    Seminário Lógica No Avião. 2019.
    Our present experiences are strikingly different from past and future ones. Every philosophy of time must explain this difference. It has long been argued that A-theorists can do it better than B-theorists because their explanation is most natural and straightforward: present experiences appear to be special because they are special. I do not wish to dispute one aspect of this advantage. But I contend that the general perception of this debate is seriously incomplete as it tends to conflate two …Read more
  •  141
    A review of Nugayev's book "Reconstruction of Scientific Theory Change" (review)
    Erkenntnis 38 (3): 429-432. 1993.
    The author’s studies in the philosophy of science, culminating in this book, were inspired by his previous research in the domains of classical and quantum gravity. In fact it was the need to bring some order in the family of modern classical theories of gravitation and to build up the appropriate conceptual foundations of quantum gravity , that forced the author to create his own methodological model of theory change, which he applies rather successfully to the most controversial case study, th…Read more
  •  1
    Are the laws of nature real? Do they belong to the world or merely reflect the way we speak about it? If they are real, what sort of entity are they? This study contributes to the ongoing discussion of these questions by emphasizing the importance of a cosmological perspective on them. I argue that the evidence coming from modern evolutionary cosmology presents difficulties for certain currently fashionable philosophical accounts of laws, in particular, for the Dretske-Tooley-Armstrong theory. I…Read more
  •  1136
    What is a Law of Nature? The Broken‐Symmetry Story
    Southern Journal of Philosophy 40 (4): 459-473. 2002.
    I argue that the contemporary interplay of cosmology and particle physics in their joint effort to understand the processes at work during the first moments of the big bang has important implications for understanding the nature of lawhood. I focus on the phenomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking responsible for generating the masses of certain particles. This phenomenon presents problems for the currently fashionable Dretske-Tooley-Armstrong theory and strongly favors a rival nomic ontology o…Read more
  •  343
    Zero-value physical quantities
    Synthese 119 (3): 253-286. 1999.
    To state an important fact about the photon, physicists use such expressions as (1) “the photon has zero (null, vanishing) mass” and (2) “the photon is (a) massless (particle)” interchangeably. Both (1) and (2) express the fact that the photon has no non-zero mass. However, statements (1) and (2) disagree about a further fact: (1) attributes to the photon the property of zero-masshood whereas (2) denies that the photon has any mass at all. But is there really a difference between saying that som…Read more
  •  490
    Temporal Parts and Superluminal Motion
    Philosophical Papers 32 (1): 1-13. 2003.
    Hud Hudson has recently suggested a scenario intended to show that, assuming the doctrine of temporal parts and a sufficiently liberal view of composition, there are material objects that move faster than light. I accept Hudson's conditional but contend that his modus ponens is less plausible that the corresponding modus tollens. Reversed in this way, the argument stemming from the scenario raises the cost of mereological liberalism and advances the case for a principled restriction on diachroni…Read more
  •  44
    ABSTRACT Many philosophers believe in the Block Universe containing all objects and events - those that we intuitively call past, present, and future. But some of those who endorse this ontology of time also believe that objects persist by enduring - by being present in their entirety at all moments at which they exist. This combination of views, the Block Universe with Endurance, has survived the initial assault of the problem of temporary intrinsics and of several later objections. But I argue…Read more
  •  168
    Uniformitarianism in cosmology: Background and philosophical implications of the steady-state theory
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 25 (6): 933-958. 1994.
    Philosophical considerations have been essentially involved in the origin and development of the steady-state cosmological theory. These considerations include an explicit uniformitarian methodology and implicit metaphysical views concerning the status of natural laws in a changing universe. I shall examine the foundations of SST by reconstructing its early history. Whereas the strong uniformitarian methodology of SST found no support in the subsequent development of cosmology, the idea of a pos…Read more
  •  357
    Times of Our Lives: Negotiating the Presence of Experience
    American Philosophical Quarterly 42 (4). 2005.
    On the B-theory of time, the experiences we have throughout our conscious lives have the same ontological status: they all tenselessly occur at their respective dates. But we do not seem to experience all of them on the same footing. In fact, we tend to believe that only our present experiences are real, to the exclusion of the past and future ones. The B-theorist has to maintain that this belief is an illusion and explain the origin of the illusion. The paper argues that this cannot be properly…Read more
  • Times of our lives
    In L. Nathan Oaklander (ed.), The Philosophy of Time, Routledge. pp. 3--4. 2008.
  •  43
    Review of Craig Bourne, A Future for Presentism (review)
    Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2007 (7). 2007.
  •  208
    Should Plato’s Line Be Divided in the Mean and Extreme Ratio?
    Ancient Philosophy 14 (2): 283-295. 1994.
    Des Jardins (1976) and Dreher (1990) have suggested that Plato's Line should be thought of as divided in the mean and extreme ('golden') ratio. I examine their arguments, as well as other reasons that could be brought up in support of the 'golden division' of the Line, and show that all of them are wanting
  •  153
    Special Relativity, Coexistence And Temporal Parts: A Reply To Gilmore
    Philosophical Studies 124 (1): 1-40. 2005.
      In two earlier works (Balashov, 2000a: Philosophical Studies 99, 129–166; 2000b: Philosophy of Science 67 (Suppl), S549–S562), I have argued that considerations based on special relativity and the notion of coexistence favor the perdurance view of persistence over its endurance rival. Cody Gilmore (2002: Philosophical Studies 109, 241–263) has subjected my argument to an insightful three fold critique. In the first part of this paper I respond briefly to Gilmore’s first two objections. I then …Read more
  •  197
    Philosophy of Science: Contemporary Readings (edited book)
    with Alexander Rosenberg
    Routledge. 2001.
    This comprehensive anthology draws together writings by leading philosophers on the philosophy of science. Each section is prefaced by an introductory essay from the editors, guiding students gently into the topic. Accessible and wide-ranging, the text draws on both contemporary and twentieth century sources. The readings are designed to complement Alex Rosenberg's textbook, _Philosophy of Science: A Contemporary Introduction_, but can also serve as a stand-alone volume in any philosophy of scie…Read more
  •  200
    Relativity and persistence
    Philosophy of Science 67 (3): 562. 2000.
    The nature of persistence of physical objects over time has been intensely debated in contemporary metaphysics. The two opposite views are widely known as "endurantism" (or "three-dimensionalism") and "perdurantism" ("four-dimensionalism"). According to the former, objects are extended in three spatial dimensions and persist through time by being wholly present at any moment at which they exist. On the rival account, objects are extended both in space and time and persist by having "temporal par…Read more
  •  101
    Relativistic objects
    Noûs 33 (4): 644-662. 1999.
    I offer an argument in defense of four-dimensionalism, the view that objects are temporally, as well as spatially extended. The argument is of the inference-to-the-best-explanation variety and is based on relativistic considerations. It deals with the situation in which one and the same object has different three-dimensional shapes at the same time and proceeds by asking what sort of thing it must be in order to present itself in such different ways in various "perspectives" (associated with mov…Read more
  •  123
    Pegs, boards, and relativistic perdurance
    Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 90 (2): 167-175. 2009.
    In an earlier work I developed an argument favoring one view of persistence (viz., perdurance) over its rivals, based on considerations of the relativity of three-dimensional spatial shapes of physical objects in Minkowski spacetime. The argument has since come under criticism (in the works of Theodore Sider, Kristie Miller, Ian Gibson, Oliver Pooley, and Thomas Sattig). Two related topics, explanatory virtues and explanatory relevance, are central to these critical discussions. In this paper I …Read more
  •  103
    Composition, persistence, vagueness, and more constitute an interconnected network of problems. My criticism of Hud Hudson's provocative claims made in a recent paper (Hudson 2002) was focused almost exclusively on the issue of diachronic composition (Balashov 2003). Hudson's response (2003) has highlighted the dangers of such isolationism. But I want to hold to my strategy to the end. Part of the reason is to evade the appalling responsibility of presenting a full-blown theory of all the above …Read more
  •  547
    Persistence and Space-Time
    The Monist 83 (3): 321-340. 2000.
    Although considerations based on contemporary space-time theories, such as special and general relativity, seem highly relevant to the debate about persistence, their significance has not been duly appreciated. My goal in this paper is twofold: (1) to reformulate the rival positions in the debate (i.e., endurantism [three-dimensionalism] and perdurantism [four-dimensionalism, the doctrine of temporal parts]) in the framework of special relativistic space-time; and (2) to argue that, when so refo…Read more
  •  168
    Persistence and spacetime
    Oxford University Press. 2010.
    Background and assumptions. Persistence and philosophy of time ; Atomism and composition ; Scope ; Some matters of methodology -- Persistence, location, and multilocation in spacetime. Endurance, perdurance, exdurance : some pictures ; More pictures ; Temporal modification and the "problem of temporary intrinsics" ; Persistence, location and multilocation in generic spacetime ; An alternative classification -- Classical and relativistic spacetime. Newtonian spacetime ; Neo-Newtonian (Galilean) s…Read more
  •  2
    Persistence
    In Craig Callender (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Time, Oxford University Press. 2011.
  •  19
    in D. Dieks (ed.), The Ontology of Spacetime, Vol. 2. Elsevier, forthcoming.