Final Paper
Pick a particular argument in one of the articles and examine it closely
McTaggart 's argument that time is unreal
Introduction
McTaggart thinks he has found a problem with the idea of time which is that the existence of time in itself is a contradiction and he argues that appearances of temporal order are just appearances. In his Argument he has two parts the first part is that time revolves around change and he introduces A- series, and the second part of the argument is that A- series is contradictory and leads to an infinite regress and that B- series Alone Does not account for change. To McTaggart it seems that if we accept that A-series Exists it would eventually lead us to a contradiction and that there can be no time without A-series and this is the reason why McTaggart concludes that time is unreal.
Thus we have the structure of McTaggart’s two-part argument against the reality of time:
• P1) For Time to be Real Then A-series Exist
• P2) There is no A-series
• C1) Time is Unreal
Part one of McTaggart’s Argument
For premise 1 McTaggart’s argument has the following structure
• P’1) Time is change
• P’2) Change is shown through A-Series
• C’1) A-series is essential to time
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Temporal passage is the “change” events undergo when they move from the future into the present and then fade into the past. This was in fact the first part of his argument, McTaggart said that “Change” is what constitutes time and that genuine change only happens if “Events” go through change. “It would, I suppose, be universally admitted that time involves change” [MCTAGGART p459] .Thus we have our First premise that: Time is Temporal Passage (Change in events).McTaggart takes this First premise for granted since it is a view that is recognized
Time: How does the way the writer moves between the past and present and future affect the structure of the book? How might this technique inform my approach?
It was understood that time existed in relation to the movements of matter. As matter and its movements did not exist prior to the Big Bang, time did not exist before the Big Bang. Matter and time came into being after the Big Bang. Their existence depends on each other. Roger Penrose and Stephen Hawking conclusively proved in mathematical terms that the universe had had a beginning. The Big Bang theory confirmed the hypothetical alternative suggested by atheists that the universe had to have a beginning if it had been created. In brief, the claims of atheists have been proven wrong in scientific terms and in terms of logic and reason; and yet the atheistic attitude is still prevalent today due to reasons like stubbornness, delusion and arbitrariness.
If you have ever read Einstein's Dreams, you can appreciate my dilemma. If you have not yet had the opportunity to experience this wonderful novel by Alan Lightman, I guarantee that after you read it you will expand your perception of the nature of time and of human activity. The novel is enchanting. It is a fictional account of what one of the greatest scientific minds dreams as he begins to uncover his theory of relativity.
“It is an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever,” (27). The Tralfamadorians also tell Billy that nothing can be changed because of the structure of how time works. When Billy asks one of the Tralfamadorians about free will, the creature responds, “Only on Earth is there any talk of free will,” (86). The people of Tralfamadore say that, “All time is all time”. It does not change the way you think.
What is time? Is time travel possible? When nothing is changing does time still exits ? Is that really true? Are you real? Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that is significant to us when questions and other clams bring curiosity about whether things are real or not.
Here is an explanation of McTaggart’s view. McTaggart wants ultimately to prove that time does not exist. He attempts to do this by arguing time’s existence is contingent on the existence of transient time and that ultimately transient time fails. Transient time involves A-series. A-series are attributed temporal properties; that is, that they involve “tensed statements.” i.e. past, present and future. He presents a series of arguments that attempt to build on each other to prove time is unreal.
Space and time are directly woven together and without the existence of one, the other doesn’t have meaning. They cannot exist without eachother. This dependence on each other is known as the Space-Time Continuum.
It rushes by before you notice; it sneaks up behind you without uttering a word. Past, present, future. Rahel once believed that whatever number she wrote on her toy watch would be true; “Rahel’s toy wristwatch had the time painted on it. Ten to two. One of her ambitions was to own a watch on which she could change the time whenever she wanted to (which according to her was what Time was meant for in the first place)” (37). Roy wrote The God of Small Things in a nonlinear fashion; time jumps around and goes from the perspective of Rahel as a 7-year-old to 20 years later in a matter of a sentence. Likewise, time changes form, there isn’t really a past, present, and future, it’s all within the life of the twins, it flows together as waves, as ripples, the same concept just in different appearances.
Time in one’s perception may be a solitary event or similar to a landscape of mountains. In human society, we are compelled to maintain a rigorous structure of time, whether it is characterized by the duration in hours or a moment in relation to another. Based on Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, time is defined as “ a continuum which lacks spatial dimensions and which events succeed on another from past through present to future.” In the novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, is a metaphorical symbol of varied time perception due to the horrors of war he confronted as an adolescent. Through the fictional protagonist, who was described as “so ridiculous in his azure toga and silver shoes,” the journey to a planet
Specifically, he elaborates that “We might compare time to a constantly revolving sphere; the half that was always sinking would be the past, that which was always rising would be the future; but the indivisible point at the tip, where the tangent touches, would be the extensionless present” (“A New Refutation of Time”, 289). This being the case, however, he elaborates in the final paragraph that “denying temporal succession, denying the self, denying the astronomical universe, are apparent desperations and secret consolations…Time is the substance I am made of…The world, unfortunately, is real; I, unfortunately, am Borges” (“A New Refutation of Time”, 290). In essence, Borges, despite his refutation, accepts his role in a universe that is irrevocably tethered to a concept of time that moves in a solely linear fashion. According to Donnelly, “Borges has simultaneously established that time is not temporally successive, and that temporal succession is not unreal (and therefore time is not not temporally successive)” (77). In conclusion, Borges present multiple opinions on the facets of time, including the idea that it is non-linear in
well that time is only a kind of space". In this quote he is clearly
to go on. This is the most important event in the book, and the most
Time is and endless phenomenon that has no beginning or end, therefore making it infinite. Emily Dickinson proves this point in her poem, Forever – is Composed of Nows, referring to “nows” as more significant than the future (Wilbur 80).
The scientific definition of time is a measurement of progress that is relative to an individual’s perception of events (HowStuffWorks.com, 2010). A psychological study proves that these viewpoints are
Ever since the dawn of civilization we have observed time by its natural occurrence and we also relied on man made primitive tools to measure time. In the beginning, time has always been a natural event, for example, sunrise to sunset but men’s earlier primitive tools to measure time were inaccurate and were only an approximate indicator, hence often unreliable such as the hour glass.