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J. Mctaggart's Unreality Of Truth

647 Words3 Pages

Alan Lam
Phil 399/420
Paper #5
On Time J.M.E. McTaggart claims that time is unreal. He proposes two theories on this subject, A-Theory and B-Theory, to explain why he claims this to be true. In this paper I will argue that McTaggart’s unreality of time is false. In support of this claim, I will give a brief summary of McTaggart’s theories of time, argue that time does exist, consider the objection of rejecting the A-theory on grounds of contradiction, and give a reply that justifies the A-theory’s consistency. Starting with the distinction of the two theories, A-theory and B-theory, McTaggart attempts to construct a way for an understanding of what time is and how it works. He starts by defining what the B-theory is, which is static …show more content…

He states, “But every moment, like every event, is both past, present, and future,” (McTaggart, 1921, 2008, p. 359). For example, claiming t1 is future, t1 is present, and t1 is past, will be contradictory, as the events appear to happen simultaneously. This is incorrect. Claiming t1 has been future, t1 is present, and t1 will be past, will be coherent, as the events appear to happen successively. C.D. Broad states, “When it is said that pastness, presentness, and futurity are incompatible predicates, this is true only in the sense that no one term could have two of them simultaneously or timelessly,” (Broad, 1938, 2008, p. …show more content…

McTaggart states, “If M is past, it has been present and future. If it is future, it will be present and past. If it is present, it has been future and will be past,” (McTaggart, 1921, 2008, p. 358). In other words, there is no difference in an event with respect to its being past, present, or future. One might reply that there is a difference in the sense that there is a spatial element not being included into the objection. If M is present in the location of s1, it has been future in s2 and will be past in s3. Change has occurred with M in respect with being in different locations in each temporal event. The change can be explained by the difference of spatial properties, such as M being in s1, s2, and s3 in relation with being in the present, future, and

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