{"id":13543,"date":"2025-01-22T14:25:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T14:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/?page_id=13543"},"modified":"2025-04-30T12:33:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T12:33:06","slug":"marco-portillo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/seminar\/marco-portillo\/","title":{"rendered":"Marco Portillo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Marco Portillo: Time in Biology: A Defense of the A-Theory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RESCHEDULED<\/strong>: Tuesday May 6 2025 @10:00 (CET)<br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/place\/UNED+-+Humanidades\/@40.4366067,-3.7379162,17z\/data=!3m2!4b1!5s0xd4228238189d7b7:0x62044c79ae77dfac!4m6!3m5!1s0xd42295f507d8465:0xc8bff2c2c262c868!8m2!3d40.4366067!4d-3.7353359!16s%2Fg%2F11d_d4qny9?entry=ttu\">Sala B, Edificio de Humanidades, UNED<\/a>\u00a0&amp;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/contact\/\">online<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Abstract<\/em><br>The central question in the metaphysics of time is whether time really flows or passes (Mellor 1981; Markosian 1993, 2022). A positive answer leads to what is called a dynamic (or tensed) view, whereas a negative answer leads to a static (or tenseless) view. Historically, the labels &#8220;A-theory&#8221; and &#8220;B-theory&#8221; have also been used (cf. Gale 1960; originating in McTaggart 1908).<br>In this talk, I offer a new argument in support of the dynamic view. The debate has traditionally focused on physics, but if we adopt a pluralist and anti-reductionist stance, it becomes reasonable to ask whether other natural sciences should also be taken into account. I explore whether the A-theory can find support in a scientific domain beyond physics, and I argue that biology does provide such support. In particular, I show that several forms of biological explanation rely on assumptions that presuppose key tenets of the A-theory\u2014namely, temporal passage, presentness, irreversibility, and the openness of the future. I contend that these features reflect a dynamic conception of time, and that insofar as biology tracks real features of the world, it offers empirical support for the A-theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Bio<\/em><br><a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/raciondeser.bsky.social\">Marco Portillo<\/a> es doctorando en Filosof\u00eda de la Ciencia por la UNED y la Universidad de Mil\u00e1n, bajo la direcci\u00f3n de los profesores Jes\u00fas Zamora Bonilla y Giuliano Torrengo. Es FPI de la Comunidad de Madrid en el Departamento de L\u00f3gica, Historia y Filosof\u00eda de la Ciencia de la UNED, miembro del grupo de investigaci\u00f3n METIS (Madrid) y del Centre for Philosophy of Time (Mil\u00e1n). Se est\u00e1 formando en las \u00e1reas de filosof\u00eda del tiempo, ontolog\u00eda, metaf\u00edsica, filosof\u00eda de la ciencia y filosof\u00eda de la historia. Su investigaci\u00f3n doctoral trata de comprender la naturaleza del futuro y los problemas que se derivan de nuestras concepciones del mismo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marco Portillo: Time in Biology: A Defense of the A-Theory RESCHEDULED: Tuesday May 6 2025 @10:00 (CET)Sala B, Edificio de Humanidades, UNED\u00a0&amp;\u00a0online AbstractThe central question in the metaphysics of time is whether time really flows or passes (Mellor 1981; Markosian 1993, 2022). A positive answer leads to what is called a dynamic (or tensed) view, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7717,"featured_media":0,"parent":11563,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13543","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7717"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13543"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14025,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13543\/revisions\/14025"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uned.es\/metis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}