Aristotle foreshadows Kant?

[BaalChatzaf]

Read in Aristotle's physics the portion 223a 21-29. Here Aristotle says that Time coexists with the Soul (Aristotle's concept which includes mind as well as animation of life). In particular he says :

"Then is is impossible that time be if the soul is not".

This sounds like a foreshadowing of Kant's notion that time is a function of the intellect and does not have a nouminal existence.

Have a peek and see what you think.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Roger Bissell]

Read in Aristotle's physics the portion 223a 21-29. Here Aristotle says that Time coexists with the Soul (Aristotle's concept which includes mind as well as animation of life). In particular he says :

"Then is is impossible that time be if the soul is not".

This sounds like a foreshadowing of Kant's notion that time is a function of the intellect and does not have a nouminal existence.

Have a peek and see what you think.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Yes, Aristotle held that time is the measurement of motion, definitely a function of consciousness. So is space, by the way.

However, it's important to distinguish between time qua attribute and time qua measurement of that attribute. (Similarly, between spatial extent qua attribute and spatial extent qua measurement of that attribute.)

Just as every entity has a spatial extent, whether or not we are aware of it, so does every motion have a duration, whether or not we are aware of it. Temporal duration is the attribute we experience and measure as time.

REB

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I moved this from the section: "Objectivist Philosophy," "Metaphysics" to here since it is not really a discussion of Objectivist philosophy, but a veiled swipe at Rand instead.

There is a legitimate issue involved, so it can be discussed over here in the Living Room.

I will not have the "Objectivist Philosophy" section on OL used for Anti-Objectivist propaganda.

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

I moved this from the section: "Objectivist Philosophy," "Metaphysics" to here since it is not really a discussion of Objectivist philosophy, but a veiled swipe at Rand instead.

There is a legitimate issue involved, so it can be discussed over here in the Living Room.

I will not have the "Objectivist Philosophy" section on OL used for Anti-Objectivist propaganda.

Michael

A little more heavily veiled than the other one he did. I initially missed this one.

--Brant

[RTB]

Mr. Bissel brings some very important but basic points to the table here in regard to time and objects.

I'd like to be a bit more brief with explanations.

Time is just the space where objects 'do' things. It's a dimension where things happen. Time is an axiomatic concept. If we have no understanding of it then we have no conception of basic reality or anything in it. To understand an object in reality without comprehending that we hold it in context and view of a temporal context is nonsense.

To hold an object in one's mind without holding simultaneously it in a temporal context is irrational.