Augustine On Time
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Submitted by blaine on May 24, 2008
- Category: Religion
- Words: 1964
- Pages: 8
- Views: 370
- Popularity Rank: 106
Augustine On Time
Book XI of the confessions deals with the nature of time. St. Augustine begins his inquiry of time by questioning its connection to God. Augustine seeks to answer the question: If God is eternal, how can he live exist in a time bound universe? Augustine solved this problem by stating that God does not exist in time. He argues that God created time when he created the world, and that only humans can conceive of time. Thus, according to Augustine, God lives in a different world were time does not exist. This solves the first half of the problem; the second half, however, deals with how time functions in the universe we live in.
To understand Augustine's argument we need to depart from the beliefs we have about time. Augustine talks about time as though it were a concept that can be measured and sensed. Thus when he talks about time he is talking about something that exists. Thus, for example, we will say we see a green chair until we no longer see the chair. Just as we can use our five senses, Augustine feels that humans believe we can measure time. Yet rationalizing how we can measure time is not so easy. He goes on to argue that we do not measure time as easily as we can see a green chair. Augustine believes that time intervals do not exist. Rather, that we understand time through memory (past), attention (present), and expectation (future). This is his answer to how we can understand time, although he is not too convinced about it.
In sections 26 and 27 Augustine is playing the skeptical, and is posing arguments that show that understanding time is not so easy. He does his best to try to solve problems yet he poses problems and offers no conclusive solutions. In these two sections Augustine discusses a peculiar aspect of time, how (and whether) we can measure time. Previously Augustine had already discussed that he cannot say that past and future are, because they have already passed or...
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COMMENTS
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
this should be edited again for basic errors
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
And elaborated more
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
not that good
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
you call this an essay?
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
holla
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
bumnipples
No Title 06/28/2008 10:48 PM
Grader: AllFreeEssays, Grade: B
Good! But the literary equivalent of a long fart in a small room.