Presentism Without Substrates: A Structural Reformulation of Temporal Ontology
Abstract
This paper proposes a novel reconciliation between presentism and ontic struc-
tural realism (OSR) by introducing a structurally dynamic conception of temporal
existence. Against both the eternalist metaphysics of the block universe and the
eliminativism of classical OSR, we defend a model of "presentist structure-flux," in
which only the structural configuration of the present exists, but diachronic conti-
nuity is preserved via quasi-isomorphic transitions. This framework accommodates
key features of quantum theory (non-locality, entanglement, indistinguishability)
while avoiding metaphysical contradictions and offering a novel reconciliation of
presentism and structural realism, free from metric commitments and ontological
substrata. This article proposes a structural reformulation of presentism, in which
only the current configuration of relational constraints—understood morphically—is
ontologically instantiated.