McTaggart's Argument
2005; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 80; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1017/s0031819105000057
ISSN1469-817X
Autores Tópico(s)History and Theory of Mathematics
ResumoThe argument of J. M. E. McTaggart in ‘The Unreality of Time’ ( Mind 1908) fails logically. There is no A series as such, but there is a shifting past-present-future arrangement within and consistent with the earlier-later B series, past being always earlier, future always later, present always a position earlier or later. An exactly similar logical structure is constructible within the number series, by making each number as one goes up it in turn (it does not matter what ‘ it ’, or ‘present’, means, ontologically). The subsequent argument that past-present-future time falls into contradiction then fails also, and proves to be equivocal.
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