386 ///-47 to ///-48
Some say that the following arguments too are equally effective against
time. If time exists, either it is limited or unlimited. 141. But if it is
limited, at what time did it start and at what time will it end? For this
reason there was once a time when time was not, that is, prior to its
beginning, and there will be a time when there will be no time, after
time has ended, which is absurd. So, time is not limited. 142. If, however,
it is unlimited, then since its parts are said to be past, present, and future,
the future and the past either exist or do not exist. But if they do not
exist and only the present is left, which is infinitesimal, time will be
limited and the original problems will follow. If past and future exist,
each of these will be present. But it is absurd to say that past and future
time are present. Therefore, time is not unlimited. If time is neither
unlimited nor limited, time does not exist at all.
- In addition to these arguments, if time exists either it is divisible
or indivisible. But it is not indivisible for it is divided into present, past,
and future, as they themselves say. But it is not divisible either. For each
divisible thing is measured by some part of itself, the measure being set
alongside each part of the things measured, as when a cubit is measured
by the length of a finger. But time cannot be measured by some part of
itself. For if we say, for the sake of argument, the present measures the
past, it will be set alongside the past and so become past, and similarly
will become future [in measuring the future]. And if the future measures
present and past, it will be present and past, and similarly the past would
become present and future, which is absurd. Therefore, time is not
divisible either. And if it is neither indivisible nor divisible, it does
not exist. - Time is said to be tripartite: past, present, and future. Of these,
past and future do not exist. For if past and future time exist now, each
of them will be present. But the present does not exist either. For if the
present exists, either it is indivisible or divisible. But it is not indivisible,
since things that change are said to change in the present, but nothing
changes in an indivisible time, for example, iron softening, or anything
else. So, the present time is not indivisible. 145. But it is not divisible
either. For it could not be divided into present parts, since the present
is said to change unnoticed into the past because of the rapid flow of
events in the cosmos. Nor could it be divided into past and future, for
then it will be non-existent, having one part which is no longer and one
part which is not yet. For this reason, the present also cannot be the end
of the past and the beginning of the future, since it will then exist and
will not exist. It will exist as present, but will not exist, since its parts
do not exist. Therefore, it is not divisible either. And if the present is
neither divisible nor indivisible, it does not exist. And if neither the