Ned Markosian is a contemporary analytic philosopher best known for his work in metaphysics, particularly the philosophy of time and persistence. He is a prominent defender of presentism—the view that only present-tense entities exist—and has made significant contributions to debates about temporal ontology, mereology, and the nature of propositions. He has held a position at Williams College for much of his career.
Defended presentism as a viable metaphysical account of time against eternalist and growing-block alternatives
Developed the 'brutal composition' view in mereology, holding that there is no non-trivial answer to the Special Composition Question
Argued for restrictions on which possible-world truths entail the existence of propositions, challenging standard possible-worlds semantics
Contributed to debates on temporal parts and endurantism vs. perdurantism
Authored influential survey work on the metaphysics of time