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Single Idea 5535

[filed under theme 27. Natural Reality / D. Time / 2. Passage of Time / a. Experience of time ]

Full Idea

The proposition that different times cannot be simultaneous is synthetic, and cannot arise from concepts alone. It is therefore immediately contained in the intuition and representation of time.

Gist of Idea

That times cannot be simultaneous is synthetic, so it is known by intuition, not analysis

Source

Immanuel Kant (Critique of Pure Reason [1781], B047/A32)

Book Ref

Kant,Immanuel: 'Critique of Pure Reason', ed/tr. Guyer,P /Wood,A W [CUO 1998], p.162


A Reaction

It seems possible that this proposition is in fact analytic. What would it be like for two times to be simultaneous? If it happened we would not accept it, because it would violate our very concept of an instant in time.


The 11 ideas with the same theme [how we experience the nature of time]:

Heavenly movements gave us the idea of time, and caused us to inquire about the heavens [Plato]
Time is not change, but requires change in our minds to be noticed [Aristotle]
We can only sense time by means of movement, or its absence [Lucretius]
I know what time is, until someone asks me to explain it [Augustine]
If everything in the universe happened a year earlier, there would be no discernible difference [Leibniz]
That times cannot be simultaneous is synthetic, so it is known by intuition, not analysis [Kant]
The three modes of time are persistence, succession and simultaneity [Kant]
There could be no time if nothing changed [McTaggart]
We never experience times, but only succession of events [Russell]
For abstractionists past times might still exist, althought their objects don't [Baron/Miller]
The error theory of time's passage says it is either a misdescription or a false inference [Baron/Miller]