THE CONCEPT OF TIME IN RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

Ungureanu Dorin

Crișan Andrei

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“Moise Nicoară” National College from Arad

Coordinator: prof. Colțun Cosmin

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Linear and cyclical

Ancient cultures have the concept of Wheel of Time: they regard time as cyclical and quantic, consisting of repeating ages that happen to every being of the Universe between birth and extinction.

TIME IN RELIGION

Linear and cyclical

The Islamic and Judeo-Christian world - view regards time as linear and directional, beginning with the act of creation by God.

TIME IN RELIGION

Time in Greek mythology

• denotes two distinct principles: Chronos (that refers to numeric, or chronological time) and Kairos - "the right or opportune moment" (that relates specifically to metaphysical or Divine time)

"Time" in Kabbalah

• is a paradox and an illusion; both, the future and the past are recognized to be combined and simultaneously present

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TIME IN RELIGION

TIME IN WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

Two contrasting viewpoints:

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• time is part of the fundamental structure of the universe - a dimension independent of events, in which events occur in sequence = absolute time (Newtonian time) 

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Sir Isaac Newton

TIME IN WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

Time is a part of a fundamental intellectual structure (together with space and number) within which humans sequence and compare events = supported by Leibniz and Kant  

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Kant and Leibniz

Ancient Indian philosophers had the concept ”Wheel of Time” that sustained there was repeating ages over the lifespan of the universe. This led to beliefs like cycles of rebirth and reincarnation.

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The Vedas

Plato believed that time was made by the Creator at the same instant as the heavens and that time is a period of motion of the heavenly bodies.

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Aristotle believed that time correlated to movement, it did not exist on its own but was relative to motion of objects, to the motion of celestial bodies.

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According to Heidegger we do not exist inside time, we are time. Hence, the relationship to the past is a present awareness of having been, which allows the past to exist in the present.

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Martin Heidegger

Antiphon the Sophist, held that: "Time is not a reality, but a concept or a measure." Parmenides went further, maintaining that time, motion and change were illusions.

UNREALITY

In "The Unreality of Time" from 1908, Mc Taggart argues that, since every event has the characteristic of being both present and not present (i.e. future or past), that time is a self-contradictory idea.

UNREALITY

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