The Between Western And Eastern Thought

John McTaggart in his essay “Time” presents a radical argument that claims time is unreal. While the argument is interesting and has attracted much attention for his arguments, I remain unconvinced of the argument he makes. This paper will lay out McTaggart’s argument that time in unreal, critically analyze why I believe McTaggart’s argument fails and present an alternative idea about time, utilizing aspects of McTaggart’s argument.

Time is one of the biggest inconsistencies in our world. Sometimes a second may seem like an hour, and a day may seem like a minute. Our relative perception of time is based solely on the circumstances surrounding that moment. For Elie, one of the first instances where time became a major factor in the

time,” is a statement which this book The Daughter of Time demonstrated very well. It showed how

Time is a free force and is said to be eternal. Time is a concept that is said to be perceived by the individual. Time is what moves on, allowing one to grow and reach their peak and achieve happiness in life. Experience and knowledge allow us to transcend ourselves in a different time. Different people view time in different aspects, whether it truly exits, whether it is meaningless or whether it exits beyond our lives. In the novel Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, time is conceptualized as meaningless, while in Hemon’s article “If God Existed, He Would Be A Solid Midfielder”, time is posited as a “snapshot” that is meaningful and valuable.

The saying is that time flies when you’re having fun. A year can seem like an eternity to a young boy, but can seem like a mere millisecond to someone else. As Alan Moore wrote in Watchmen, “There is no future. There is no past. […] Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every face” (Moore and Gibbons). Different perspectives on time exist, each of which influence the way that we as people perceive life, the universe, and everything that surrounds it. We as Humans forget that there are many different ways to perceive something, not just our own; experiences, situations, desirability, or even hallucinogenic or psychotropic drugs can create or alter a perception of time that’s different to the one that’s generally accepted. With this in mind, it’s clear that perceptions regarding the flow of time aren’t static; they’re purely subjective, unique to each individual who experiences it.

It could argued that our common-sense notion of endurance through time is incorrect. That this mistaken self-conception lead us to experience the passage of time. If so, this would be illusory no? And if this enduring ‘me’ is an illusion then so is the passage of time.

Time perception is an old as well as a venerable theme in psychology. Importantly, psychology came from medicine and philosophy in 1800 (Gibbon 108). From this foundation, time perception grew to be a fundamental topic of interest to authors and researchers in these fields. The researchers had to investigate the aspects of time in the area of psychology. One of the vital relationships that were discussed is between physical and real-time. In 1920, the tide took another different turn. Behavioral psychologists in the US declared that it was not appropriate for psychologists to investigate such a topic (Gibbon 109). Nevertheless, the

We experience the passage of time in our daily lives as if it were an ontologically real entity, however it is not tangible, and we cannot seem to precisely define its presence. Rather than being ontologically real or external, I assert that time springs forth from within the individual as a personal synthesis of our surroundings and consciousness: the vestiges of time’s creation are reflected in our minds, our genetics, and our societies. Thus, by examining how we continue to advance as a species and society, we can extrapolate the tenets of Darwinian evolution to better understand the origins, and consequences of the phenomena of time and thought.

Time is a unit of measurement used to describe the progression of events. It is a set notion that has limits and is known to be unwavering, meaning it cannot be distorted. Time can be measured in set intervals which helps it to remain unchanging, yet I beg to differ. Time has the tendency to pass at various different rates depending upon the situation at hand. It may seem to stand still or to pass in with a blink of an eye. Scientifically it is a fixed measurement, but in reality time passes as it pleases. A lot can happen in a second. Here is my story of how a couple of seconds gave me realization that nearly anything can change in an instant.

Imagine that there was a power outage throughout the night, causing your alarm clock to restart. Now you are late for work, which gets you in trouble with your boss. So now you are sitting at work anxiously waiting to clock out due to this terrible day. Thinking that it’s been hours since the last time you looked at the clock, but in reality only ten minutes have passed. As this common situation used personal perception that, altered the reality of physical time. This is a prime example why I believe that time is perceived only through the construction of events rather than the physical time used. Although physical time is commonly used; each individual has their own ability to

A more abstract understanding of time indicates the existence of a dichotomous perception and corresponding application amid the world 's cultures. This dichotomy generally splits between what one might associate with "old world" and "new world." While

The perspective of culture, however, might be quite relative. Since culture can be learned, obtained, adapted, and even transmitted from one society to another. Throughout the development of human race, culture may also rely on many variables, including knowledge, religion, customs, and habits. Therefore, Eastern and Western cultures mentioned below are relatively "right" in most circumstances, not all of them. It is widely believed that parent's own heritage can have a powerful impact on parenting style. Many people argue that the concept of individualism and collectivism is the primary difference between Eastern and Western culture (Nisbett, R. E., 2003). A list of 18 pairs of Eastern and Western cultural differences adapted by Rev. Tran

A more abstract understanding of time indicates a dichotomous perception and manifestation existing amid the world 's cultures accordingly. That dichotomy generally divides between what oftentimes describes or associates with "old world" and "new world." Moreover, while

People living Traditional and Western societies are influenced by their society’s orientation of time. The orientation of time in Western and Traditional societies is different. Traditional societies are oriented in the past and practice a monocronic time system, which emerged from primitive societies. In contrast, Western societies are oriented in the future and practice a polychronic time system, which originates from the technological developments of time keeping and time discipline. The difference in time orientation, of Traditional and Western societies, produces a contrast in the behavior of people living in those societies. The contrast of human behavior is evidence that people, living in Traditional and Western societies, are influenced by their societies orientation of time.

It is paradoxical to have a course, which revolves round the corrosiveness of faulted Western notions of time and its depiction through abstraction, identify itself with an abstract title but argue for the concreteness and tangibility of the portrayal of time and space. A Place Beyond Time does just that. Containing a vastly abstract title, A Place Beyond Time may at first glance appear to properly relate time as a tangent notion with space. Upon further contemplation, however, it becomes patent that A Place Beyond Time possesses a conspicuous absence present in its philosophy of aloofness from intangibility. And although the name of the course attempts to tackle and manifest the complications of abstract and concrete time, it is through its lack of definition and precision, lack of possession, and lack of sensation of repetition that A Place Beyond Time fails to properly capitalize on this dilemma.