Turetzky - Time

Time, as a topic of study, extends to virtually every area of intellectual inquiry and practical engagement. It impinges on the natural sciences, the social sciences, literature and the arts, politics, economics, religion, and private life. The various roles of time in these areas cannot be isolated from one another without loss. No one study, especially one of so restricted a length, can encompass this complexity. This is not surprising, since time, in any of its roles, is a fundamental aspect of all that occurs, a boundary condition on phenomena.

This book is a work in the history of philosophy. Although it is restricted to the ontology of time as it developed historically in European thought from ancient Greece through the contemporary traditions in western philosophy, the topic remains vast in scope. The difficulty in presenting this material is exacerbated by the necessity of explaining the various ontological positions in sufficient detail to make sense of the role and nature of time in each position. This has made the task of writing the book a seemingly endless series of decisions about what would have to be left out. I have not had the luxury to discuss, in detail, alternative interpretations of each position, nor why I have selected the interpretations I give. More frustrating has been the limited space for commenting on the wealth of differences and interconnections, often finely nuanced, between various positions.

In Part One, I have tried to present the various positions without pretending they are clearer or better supported than they appear. Instead, I have adopted the useful fiction that philosophical thought can be pictured as unfolding within and among the writings of philosophical thinkers. The hope is that clarifications and criticisms emerge as immanent in the history as it unfolds. Nor have I attempted to assess the strength of arguments and positions or develop an original position on the nature of time. In Part Two I am not so concerned to settle the issues regarding each tradition, as much as to place them in relation to one another through several themes. In any case, I have tried to make the great wealth of source material clear in the notes and bibliography, so that the interested reader can explore the various problems. Moreover, I have tried by judicious use of connective comments and internal references to mark divergences and connections around which multiple virtual books may haunt the actual text.

Several people have read parts of the text and helped improve it immensely, although not even such excellent help could save me from many of my follies. I wish to thank Robert Welsh Jordan for helpful comments on the phenomenology chapters, Jane Kneller for helpful comments on the Kant chapter, and William Bogard likewise on the two final chapters. I have benefited from conversations with Michael McCulloch, Garrett Thomson, Thomas Trelogan, Suzanne Unger, David Utterback, among many others. People attending lectures I have given at Colorado State University and the College at Wooster Ohio, and students in courses at Ripon College and the University of Northern Colorado have challenged me to seek greater clarity and appreciation of the difficulties the ontology of time presents. I have received encouragement and editorial assistance from Tim Crane, Emma Davis, Adrian Driscoll, Anna Gerber, Shankari Sanmuganathan and Lisa Williams. Markham Roug helped with the drawing of some of the figures, Marie-Laure Marcaux aided in some translation from the French, and my brother, Howard Turetzky, has provided computer assistance over many years.