Abstract
Since McTaggart first proposed his paradox asserting the unreality of time, numerous philosophers have attempted to defend the tensed theory of time against it. Certainly, one of the most highly developed and original is that put forth by Quentin Smith. Through discussing McTaggart's positive conception of time as well as his negative attack on its reality, I hope to clarify the dispute between those who believe in the existence of the transitory temporal properties of pastness, presentness and futurity, and those who deny their existence. We shall see that the debate centers around the ontological status of succession and the B-relations of earlier and later. I shall argue that Smith's tensed theory fails because he cannot account for the sense in which events have their tensed properties successively, and he cannot account for the direction of time.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bigelow, J.: 1991, ‘Worlds Enough for Time’, Nous 45, 1–20.
Broad, C. D.: 1921, ‘Time’, in J. Hastings (ed.), Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Rpt. in 1955, Charles Scribner Sons, New York, pp. 334–345.
Broad, C. D.: 1923, Scientific Thought, Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London. Rpt. in 1959. Littlefield, Adams & Co., Patterson, New Jersey.
Broad, C. D.: 1938, An Examination of McTaggart's Philosophy, vol. 2, pt. 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Rpt. in 1976, Octagon Books, New York.
Buller, D. J. and T. A. Foster: 1992, ‘The New Paradox of Temporal Transience’, The Philosophical Quarterly 42, 257–266.
Grünbaum, A.: 1973, Philosophical Problems of Space and Time, 2nd edn. D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht.
Le Poidevin, R. and D. H. Mellor: 1987, ‘Time, Change and the Indexical Fallacy’, Mind 96, 534–38.
Le Poidevin, R.: 1991, Time, Cause and Contradiction, Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Le Poidevin, R.: 1993, ‘Lowe on McTaggart’, Mind 102, 162–70.
Levison, A. B.: 1987, ‘Events and Time's Flow’, Mind 96, 131–43.
Lowe, E. J.: 1987a, ‘The Indexical Fallacy in McTaggart's Proof of the Unreality of Time’, Mind 96, 62–70.
Lowe, E. J.: 1987b, ‘Reply to Le Poidevin and Mellor’, Mind 96, 539–42.
Lowe, E. J.: 1992, ‘McTaggart's Paradox Revisited’, Mind 101, 323–26.
Lowe, E. J.: 1993, ‘Comment on Le Poidevin’, Mind 102, 171–73.
Markosian, N.: 1993, ‘How Fast Does Time Fly?’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 53, 829–44.
McTaggart, J. E. M.: 1908, ‘The Unreality of Time’, Mind 18, 457–74, and rpt. 1934, S. V. Keeling (ed.), Philosophical Studies, Edward & Arnold & Co., London, pp. 110–34.
McTaggart, J. E. M.: 1927, ‘Time’, in C. D. Broad (ed.), The Nature of Existence, vol. II, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Rpt. 1968, Scholarly Press, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, pp. 9–31.
Mellor, D. H.: 1981, Real Time, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Oaklander, L. N.: 1984, Temporal Relations and Temporal Becoming, Univ. Press of America, Lanham, MD.
Oaklander, L. N.: 1992, ‘Zeilicovici on Temporal Becoming’, Philosophia 21, 329–34. Rpt. in L. N. Oaklander and Q. Smith (1994a), pp. 252–256.
Oaklander, L. N. and Q. Smith (eds.): 1994a, The New Theory of Time, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Oaklander, L. N.: 1994b, ‘McTaggart's Paradox and the Infinite Regress of Temporal Attributions: A Reply to Smith’, in L. N. Oaklander and Q. Smith (1994a), pp. 195–201.
Oaklander, L. N.: 1994c, ‘Bigelow, Possible Worlds and the Passage of Time’, Analysis 54(4), 244–48.
Prior, A. N.: 1967, Past, Present and Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Prior, A. N.: 1968, Papers on Time and Tense, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Russell, B.: 1915, ‘On the Experience of Time’, Monist, 25, 212–33.
Schlesinger, G.: 1991, ‘E Pur Si Mouve’, The Philosophical Quarterly 41, 427–41.
Schlesinger, G.: 1993, ‘A Short Defence of Temporal Transience’, The Philosophical Quarterly 43, 359–61.
Schlesinger, G.: 1994, ‘The Stream of Time’, in Timely Topics, The MacMillan Press, Ltd., London, pp. 63–94. Rpt. in L. N. Oaklander and Q. Smith (1994a), pp. 257–285.
Shorter, J. M.: 1984, ‘The Reality of Time’, Philosophia 14, 321–39.
Smith, Q.: 1993, Language and Time, Oxford University Press, New York.
Smith, Q.: 1994a, ‘McTaggart's Paradox and the Infinite Regress of Temporal Attributions’, in L. N. Oaklander and Q. Smith (1994a), pp. 180–194.
Smith, Q.: 1994b, ‘The Logical Structure of the Debate about McTaggart's Paradox’, in L. N. Oaklander and Q. Smith (1994a), pp. 202–210.
Williams, C.: 1994, ‘The Phenomenology of B-Time’, in L. N. Oaklander and Q. Smith (1994a), pp. 360–372.
Zeilicovici, D.: 1989, ‘Temporal Becoming Minus the Moving Now’, Noûs 23, 505–24.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oaklander, L.N. McTaggart's paradox and Smith's tensed theory of time. Synthese 107, 205–221 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413606
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413606