Fatalism and the Logic of Time

This intriguing book, the culmination of 35 years of thinking about the problem of divine foreknowledge v. human freedom, uncovers the metaphysical bedrock beneath the surface conflict between infallibility and free will. Zagzebski argues that there is an incoherence in any argument-for causal determinism as much as for logical and theological fatalism-that posits a necessity of the past that is then transferred to the future, and this means that there’s an incoherence in our understanding of time. Written in a very accessible style, Zagzebski takes the debate over arguments for fatalism in a wholly new direction. Anyone with a serious interest in the nature of time and metaphysical questions associated with it will want to read this challenging and original book.” - David Hunt, Whittier College

Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski is the George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emerita and Kingfisher College Chair of the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics Emerita at the University of Oklahoma. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. Some of her other publications include Omnisubjectivity (OUP, 2023), Epistemic Authority (OUP, 2017), Virtues of the Mind (Cambridge, 2012), and The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge (OUP, 1991).