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3 ideas
20820 | Time is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed [Posidonius, by Stobaeus] |
Full Idea: Posidonius defined time thus: it is an interval of motion, or the measure of speed and slowness. | |
From: report of Posidonius (fragments/reports [c.95 BCE]) by John Stobaeus - Anthology 1.08.42 | |
A reaction: Hm. Can we define motion or speed without alluding to time? Looks like we have to define them as a conjoined pair, which means we cannot fully understand either of them. |
12486 | An 'instant' is where we perceive no succession, and is the time of a single idea [Locke] |
Full Idea: A part of duration wherein we perceive no succession, is that which we may call an 'instant'; and is that which takes up the time of only one idea in our minds. | |
From: John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 2.14.10) | |
A reaction: Given that the present appears to have zero duration (if it is where past and future meet), then this strikes me as a pretty accurate account of what we mean by an instant. |
12487 | We can never show that two successive periods of time were equal [Locke] |
Full Idea: Two successive lengths of duration, however measured, can never be demonstrated to be equal. | |
From: John Locke (Essay Conc Human Understanding (2nd Ed) [1694], 2.14.21) | |
A reaction: Nice thought. You can't lay the durations next to one another, the way you can lengths. You can only count the clock ticks, but not be sure whether their speed remained constant. |