麦克塔格特的时间非实在性——兼与僧肇时间观的比较

McTaggart’s View about the Unreality of Time—Comparing with Seng Zhao’s View

时间的本质问题是历代哲学家关注的重要问题之一。英国哲学家麦克塔格特于1908年明确论述了时间的非实在性,并引发了哲学界对于时间是否具有实在性问题的热烈讨论。在古代中国也不乏对时间问题的思考,在东晋时期,佛教僧人僧肇对于变化和时间做出了独特的解释。尽管僧肇的观点与西方学者的观点旨趣相异,但它又与西方的B理论(B-theory)存在着一些不谋而合之处,由此说明中国古代思想可以为近现代哲学思想的讨论提供可资的借鉴。

The nature of time is one of the important issues that philosophers of all ages pay attention to. In 1908, the British philosopher McTaggart explicitly discussed the unreality of time, triggering philosophical questions about whether time is really a heated discussion. In ancient China thinking about the problems of the time, especially in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Buddhist monk Seng Zhao made a unique interpretation of change and time. Although Seng Zhao’s point of view and the interest of western scholars’ point of view, there are some similarities between Seng Zhao’s views and B-theory illustrating that ancient Chinese thoughts can be provided a reference for the discussion of modern philosophy.