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Full Idea
We take it that it is impossible for the nows to be adjoining one another, as it is for a point to be adjoining a point.
Gist of Idea
Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line
Source
Aristotle (Physics [c.337 BCE], 218a18)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Physics Books III and IV', ed/tr. Hussey,Edward [OUP 1983], p.41
A Reaction
This implies that instants are abstractions, rather than physical realities. Aristotle rejects atoms, so presumably sees prime matter as the underlying uniter of matter. Insistence on linking the smallest parts leads to modern physics.
Related Idea
Idea 22966 The present moment is a link (of past to future), and also a limit (of past and of future) [Aristotle]
| 16693 | Time has parts, but the now is not one of them, and time is not composed of nows [Aristotle] |
| 22958 | Nows can't be linked together, any more than points on a line [Aristotle] |
| 12486 | An 'instant' is where we perceive no succession, and is the time of a single idea [Locke] |
| 14156 | Mathematicians don't distinguish between instants of time and points on a line [Russell] |
| 16207 | Time could be discrete (like integers) or dense (rationals) or continuous (reals) [Hawley] |