Resolving the Aporetic Contrasts in Context

Section 6.1: ‘Aporia’ refers both to a state of mind of being perplexed and the object and cause of this state of mind. Aristotle points to the need of making aporetic contrasts in issues up for discussion explicit. Once an aporia is made explicit it serves as a tool to establish what is true and what is false, and to find an euporia ‘a solution.’ In order to be able to assess the claims of the aporias in Physics IV.10 the entire book of Physics needs to be consulted. Section 6.2: A key question in regard to the existence or non-existence of time is how to understand ἐστιν ‘is, exists.’ In a discussion of τὸ εἶναι ‘being’ and ἐστιν in the sense of ‘exists,’ Aristotle distinguishes between potential and actual existence of time, so that past and future time exists potentially and have or will exist actually at the point of the ‘now’ as illustrated by the occurrence of the Olympic Games. From a cognitive perspective Aristotle acknowledges the so-called experienced ‘now’ that clusters around the actual extension-less ‘now,’ where the experienced ‘now’ stretches in either or both directions from the ‘now’ as far as pragmatically convenient. Past and future time may also be approached from the viewpoint of cosmic time where their potential existence may be categorised as non-present existence rather than as non-existence; in hylomorphic terms their ‘being’ is thus ‘being’ qua qualified. The ‘now’ is not a part and time does not consist of ‘nows.’ Time is that which is between two ‘nows.’ Time cannot exist, or even be perceived, without the ‘now.’ Section 6.3: As for the location of existing time, both the infinite past/future and the ‘now’ both were rejected in the ἀπορία. Nevertheless, Aristotle argues that the ‘now’ is the basis for the existence of time; just like there would be no time without the ‘now,’ there would be no ‘now’ without time. Section 6.4: Time is presented from two perspectives: one where the ‘now’ is an abstract mathematical limit and one where time and the ‘now’ are perceived from a cognitive-perceptive point of view as experienced entities. The empirical observation of time and the internal, subjective experience of time as a phenomenon dovetail; reason and perception towards a cognitive conceptualisation join forces. Time is taken to have passed when it has been physically perceived or even just cognitively imagined. When a ‘before’ and ‘after’ are perceived, there is time. Time does not exist without a perceiving mind, except in a very restricted sense. Section 6.5: Time has ‘being’ without itself being a substance by its correlation to an underlying thing that partakes in substance. The underlying thing of time is motion and motion takes place and manifests in a moving thing, a substance. Time and motion are mutually dependent on one another; though time depends more on motion (than vice versa) and motion depends on magnitude/space. Time and motion operate together both in potentiality and actuality. Time numerates and measures the underlying motion of the moving thing. By cosmic time there is a precise correlation between time and motion in space. Sun, TheThe sun is the Underlying constantly moving substance of time, Theunderlying constantly moving substance of time, and specifically Now, Thethe ‘now.’ Time partakes of substance by being a quality of the motion of a moving thing, a substance, i.e. the sun. Section 6.6: Time is not composed of ‘nows.’ Nor is there an extended ‘now.’ Section 6.7: The one and the same ‘now’ is both the same and different; it is the same by persisting in its passing, it is different by its accidental newness in each new position along its path. In its differentness the ‘now’ divides time in potentiality. In its sameness as a moving ‘now’ it unites past and future in actuality. It is thus the same ‘now’ that divides and unites; as a potential divider it is qualitatively different, as an actual uniter it is qualitatively the same. The ‘now’ travels through time in its actuality and divides time in its potentiality and is therefore ‘different’ in its ‘being’ in one position relative to another along the temporal axis.