Time Does Not Pass if Time Began from an Infinite Past

Author:

Morita Kunihisa1

Affiliation:

1. Graduate School of Human Sciences , Osaka University, 1-2 Yamadaoka , Suita , Osaka , 565-0871 , Japan

Abstract

Abstract Philosophers have long discussed whether time really passes. Simultaneously, they have also discussed whether time could have begun from an infinite past. This paper clarifies the relationship between the reality of time’s passage and an infinite past. I assert that time cannot have an infinite past if time really passes. This argument is based on a proposition that an infinite series of events cannot be completed if time really passes. A seemingly strong objection to this proposition is that no movement is possible if an infinite series cannot be completed. However, movement is clearly possible; thus, an infinite series can be completed. I argue that although it is sure that an infinite series can be completed in the static view, an infinite series cannot be completed (and thus, time could not have begun from an infinite past) in the dynamic view.

Funder

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH

Reference41 articles.

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2. Broad, C. D. 1923. Scientific Thought. New York: Harcourt Brace.

3. Cameron, R. P. 2015. The Moving Spotlight. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4. Casati, R., and G. Torrengo. 2011. “The Not So Incredible Shrinking Future.” Analysis 71 (2): 240–4, https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anr006.

5. Craig, W. L. 1994. A Classic Debate on the Existence of God. University of Colorado at Boulder. http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/craig-tooley5.html (accessed April 30, 2021).

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