The Fixedness of the Past

Abstract

We can't affect what happened. We can't change the past and the past doesn't change itself.
The contents of my expectation may vary according to my actions in the present, but the contents of my memory don't.
Thing-individuals endure through time, and they can change and vanish and even regenerate. On the other hand, event-individuals, once they emerge, don't change or vanish or regenerate.
The contents of memory include reference to an event-individual. That is the reason why they don't vary according to actions in the present. The source of the fixedness of the past consists in the existence of event-individuals. And their existence, therefore also the fixedness of the past, largely depends on our referring to them.