Relativity, Global Tense and Phenomenology

An overview of the efforts of the last century to interpret relativity theory reveals that, for the most part, they concentrated on the formal and geometrical features of the theory while ignoring almost entirely its experiential side. One consequence of neglecting to examine the nature of experience is the widespread acceptance of the static block-universe picture. While many supporters of this view admit to the existence of a gap between this interpretation of relativity theory and experience, according to a suggestion made by Dieks in this volume, a closer examination shows the block-universe picture to be in perfect harmony with experience. In this paper I claim that: (a) any interpretative enterprise regarding relativity that does not include a phenomenological study is inadequate; hence Dieks’ attempt to harmonize the theory with experience is commendable; (b) nevertheless, Dieks’ proposal is untenable; (c) global tense and passage are irremovable from our experience-based conception of reality and must therefore figure in any interpretation of relativity theory; (d) a proper phenomenological analysis of tense and passage (based on an abandonment of the A and the B theories of time) facilitates squaring relativity with experience.