A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book

From Here to Eternity: Two Absolutists (Newton, Clarke) and Two Relationalists (Leibniz, Kant of New Elucidation) on the Essence of Time with a Consideration of Their Similarities and Differences




AuthorsHelenius, Visa

EditorsAlexander D. Carruth, Heidi Haanila, Paavo Pylkänen, Pii Telakivi

Edition1

Publication year2024

Book title True Colors, Time After Time: Essays Honoring Valtteri Arstila

Series titleReports from the Department of Philosophy

Number in series52

First page 167

Last page186

ISBN978-951-29-9959-0

eISBN978-951-29-9960-6

ISSN1457-9332

Web address https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-29-9960-6

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/477266739


Abstract

A dispute about absolute and relative time in the eighteenth-century is famous and much discussed. According to the absolutist view, endorsed by Isaac Newton and Samuel Clarke, time is an absolute entity, whose existence does not require other beings except God. In the relationalist view, which is endorsed by G. W. Leibniz and the pre-critical Immanuel Kant, the absolutist position is denied since time is, the relationalists believe, a relational entity, which emerges from relations of beings. In this article, I examine the dispute by reviewing the views of the above-mentioned four philosophers. My aims are, first, to shed light on the philosophy of time by examining the views, and second, to argue that, in addition to the fundamental difference between the absolutist and the relationalist view concerning the ontological status of time, there are other differences, and that they share some features.


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Last updated on 2025-17-04 at 11:41