Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 1Grote, George
Philosophy
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume 1
Grote, George
Philosophy, Ancient; Plato; Socrates, 470 BC-399 BC
Aristot. Physic. iv. p. 218, a. 4-10. [Greek: tou= de\ chro/non ta\
me\n ge/gone, ta\ de\ me/llei, e)sti d' ou)de\n, o)/ntos meristou=;
to\ de\ nu=n ou) me/ros--to\ de\ nu=n pe/ras e)/sti] (a. 24)--p. 222,
a. 10-20-223, a. 20. [Greek: o( de\ chro/nos kai\ ê( ki/nêsis a(/ma
kata/ te du/namin kai\ kat' e)nergei/an].
Which doctrine is thus rendered by Harris in his Hermes, ch. vii. pp.
101-103-105:--"Both Points and Nows being taken as Bounds, and not as
Parts, it will follow that in the same manner as the same point may be
the end of one line and the beginning of another--so the same Now may
be the End of one time, and the beginning of another. . . I say of
these two times, that with respect to the _Now_, or Instant which they
include, the first of them is necessarily Past time, as being previous
to it: the other is necessarily Future, as being subsequent. . . From
the above speculations, there follow some conclusions, which may be
called paradoxes, till they have been attentively considered. In the
first place, there cannot (strictly speaking) be any such thing as
Time Present. For if all Time be transient, as well as continuous, it
cannot like a line be present altogether, but part will necessarily be
gone and part be coming. If therefore any portion of its continuity
were to be present at once, it would so far quit its transient nature,
and be Time no longer. But if no portion of its continuity can be thus
present, how can Time possibly be present, to which such continuity is
essential?"--Compare Sir William Hamilton's Discussions on Philosophy,
p. 581.]
[Side-note: Motion is always present, past, and future.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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