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- There is no "Now."
1 minute… 1 hour… 1 day… Time has been considered since humanity has existed on Earth. It’s so complex and substantive that we still don’t fully understand it, but it seems universal and absolute. However, philosopher J. M. E. McTaggart deeply challenges this (and even nearly refutes it beyond a doubt). No, this isn’t the typical “time is an illusion.” Pop philosophy that TikTokers love. Time exists, but not how most people think about it. This is eternalism.
Table of Contents
The Two Major Theories of Time
Before we get into that, though, we have to talk about two major competing theories of time for context.
The first theory is a theory of time that many people hold right off the bat. If you took a random person off the street and started asking them about time. Chances are, they’ll describe something close to this philosophy:
The A-Theory of Time (Presentism)
The A-theory of time (also known as the tensed theory of time) holds that the passage of time is real and objective.
According to this view, temporal properties (or ‘tenses’) like “past,” “present,” and “future” are not linguistic conveniences but map genuine features of reality. Events in time are past, future, or present, and each event is at one time in the past, present, or future but never in any combination of the three at once. Events constantly move from the future into the present and then recede into the past.
Under A-theory, the present is special, and it is the only real “tense.” For example, past objects like dinosaurs did exist, but there is no sense in which they do exist currently. On the other hand, future objects (like the 60th president of the U.S.) may exist, but it is not the case that they do exist.
The B-Theory of Time (Eternalism)
This is, however, at odds with the B-theory of time (also called the tenseless theory), which holds that time is fundamentally a static dimension much like space.
On this view, the distinctions between past, present, and future are not objective features of the world but are instead dependent on the perspective of observers. All moments in time, every event that has occurred, is occurring, or will occur, are equally real. There is no objective "now," and "past," "present," and "future" are just relations between events (like "earlier than," "later than," or "simultaneous with").
So, How is Eternalism Appealing?
The answer is deeply rooted in modern physics. Einstein’s theory of Special Relativity
A-theory (unlike B-theory) is incompatible with Special Relativity, which has two postulates
The speed of light is the same for all observers, no matter their relative speed
The speed of light is the same in all inertial frames
It follows from these two postulates that simultaneity of time is not universal/absolute but must be relativized to an inertial frame
For any set of events, there can be no one fact of the matter as to which event happened first or whether both occurred at the same time. The precedence of one event over another depends upon the frame of reference.
This is a stark implication for A-theory, as there is no basis for selecting any frame of reference as the “real” frame of reference. There is no privileged frame from which we can say definitively what events are happening “now” everywhere, and, therefore, there is no global “present”.
Of course, some A-theorists have developed responses to this but they all fall short and will gladly be discussed another time
Until next time (In case you didn’t see what I did there the first time)
NOTES FROM The Penguin
The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.