Questions: Philosophy of Time

Question 1

In McTaggart's framework, which series captures the fact that the Battle of Hastings is now further in the past than it was in 1100 CE?

• A. The A-series, because past/present/future properties change over time
• B. The B-series, because the earlier/later relation between events is fixed
• C. Both series equally, since both track temporal order
• D. Neither series, since McTaggart concludes time is unreal

Answer: (A)

The A-series assigns properties like 'past,' 'present,' and 'future' to events, and crucially these properties change — the Battle of Hastings was once present, then became past, and becomes ever more distant past as time passes. The B-series only captures the fixed relation 'earlier than' or 'later than' between events, which never changes.

Question 2

The block universe (B-theory) view entails that causation and temporal sequence are illusions.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is a common misreading. B-theorists fully accept that events stand in fixed earlier/later relations and that causes precede effects. What they deny is that there is any objective temporal becoming or passage — the future is as real as the past and present in a four-dimensional manifold. Sequence and causation are built into the structure of the block; what is absent is the dynamic 'flow' that A-theorists affirm.

Question 3

What is McTaggart's central argument for the unreality of time, and what is the key tension he identifies in the A-series?

Model answer: McTaggart argues that genuine temporal change requires the A-series (past/present/future), but the A-series is contradictory: every event must have all three properties (past, present, future), yet these are mutually exclusive. Attempts to resolve this by saying events have the properties at different times generate an infinite regress.

McTaggart's argument is that the B-series (earlier/later) alone cannot account for change — it is a static ordering. But the A-series, which does capture change, contains a contradiction. Every event is past (from the future), present (now), and future (from the past), yet no event can simultaneously be all three. Saying 'it is future at earlier times and past at later times' just re-introduces the A-series at a higher level, generating an infinite regress.