Inventing Time: Past, Present, and Future in British Metaphysics 1878-1938

过去或未来是真实的吗？时间是否有不可逆转的方向，从过去到未来？现在真的在移动，以至于未来的婚礼变成现在，然后成为过去吗？今天，这些问题是时间哲学的核心。然而，情况并不总是如此。通过我之前关于时间哲学史的著作，我逐渐相信这些问题是相对较晚发明的：它们最早是在19世纪70年代至30年代的英国哲学中明确而详细地讨论的。在这一时期，哲学家们提出了这些关于时间的新问题和新答案。例如，“永恒论者”认为，过去、现在和未来都是真实的。“成长障碍”理论家认为，过去和现在是真实的，而未来是不真实的。“A理论家”认为现在确实在移动，而“B理论家”则否认这一点。21世纪的时间哲学家经常引用20世纪初的关键著作，表明他们也将当代理论与这段历史联系在一起。这个哲学史项目讲述的是“起源故事”。它探讨了为什么以及如何在二十世纪之交的英国哲学中出现关于过去、现在和未来的新问题。我的初步研究表明，有12位哲学家处于这些变化的中心：沙兹沃斯·霍奇森、伯特兰·罗素、维多利亚·韦尔比、J·M·E·麦克塔格特、亚瑟·爱丁顿、苏珊·斯特宾、塞缪尔·亚历山大、C.D.布罗德、A·N·怀特黑德、J·W·邓恩、希尔达·奥克利和梅·辛克莱。这个项目将探索他们的时间理论，并将他们放在那个时期的背景中。他们的工作受到了科学发展的影响，包括生物学中的新进化论，心理学中的新时间知觉理论，以及物理学中关于时空的新理论。这项研究将是此类研究中的第一项，其重要性有三个原因。首先，它将推进时间哲学史。时间是19世纪末20世纪初英国哲学中的一个关键问题：我不知道在这一时期没有哪个英国形而上学学者不按时写作。在英国哲学中研究这一问题将极大地增进我们对他们的时间理论以及这一时期英国形而上学的更广泛的理解。第二，它将推进恢复历史女哲学家工作的工程。我将关注的十二位哲学家中有四位是女性：辛克莱、韦尔比、奥克利和斯特宾。目前关于这些女性的学术研究非常非常少，这个项目将为未来更多的研究开辟道路。最后，这个项目可能会推进21世纪的辩论。今天的哲学家们仍然对这个项目将考虑的一些历史文物深感担忧。自2010年以来，麦克塔格特1908年的论文《时间的不切实际》被引用了近千次，罗素1915年的论文《关于时间的经验》在同一时期被引用了近100次。研究21世纪关于时间的理论的根源将阐明假设，揭示隐藏的动机，并找回失去的论点。这部著作可能会对当代的时间哲学家有用。我在达勒姆举办的一次“二十世纪和二十一世纪哲学中的时间”会议的成功证明了学术界对这个项目的兴趣。它发生在2017年9月，由我的英国学院新星基金资助。历史学家和时间哲学家进行了卓有成效的研究，后来将他们的论文变成了一系列博客帖子和播客。我编辑了这个系列，它在时间哲学中心的网站上主持：http://www.centreforphilosophyoftime.it.

Are the past or future real? Does time have an irreversible direction, from past to future? Does the present really move, such that a wedding in the future becomes present, and then past? Today, these questions are central to the philosophy of time. Yet that was not always the case. Through my previous work on the history of philosophy of time, I have come to believe these questions were invented relatively recently: they were first discussed explicitly and at length in British philosophy between the 1870s and the 1930s. During this period, philosophers developed these new questions about time, and new answers. For example, 'eternalists' argued that the past, present and future are real. 'Growing block' theorists argued that the past and present are real, yet the future is unreal. 'A theorists' argued the present really moves, whilst 'B theorists' denied it. Twenty-first century philosophers of time frequently cite key works from the early twentieth century, showing they connect contemporary theories with this history too. This history of philosophy project tells 'origin stories'. It explores why and how new questions about the past, present and future emerged in British philosophy around the turn of the twentieth century. My preliminary research suggests twelve philosophers were at the centre of these changes: Shadworth Hodgson, Bertrand Russell, Victoria Welby, J. M. E. McTaggart, Arthur Eddington, Susan Stebbing, Samuel Alexander, C. D. Broad, A. N. Whitehead, J. W. Dunne, Hilda Oakeley, and May Sinclair. This project will explore their theories of time, and contextualise them in the period. Their work was affected by developments in science, including new theories of evolution in biology, new theories of time perception in psychology, and new theories about spacetime in physics. This study will be the first of its kind, and it is important for three reasons. First, it will advance the history of philosophy of time. Time was a key issue in British philosophy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: I am not aware of any British metaphysician during this period who does not write something on time. Studying this issue in British philosophy will hugely increase our understanding of their theories of time, and of British metaphysics during this period more generally. Second, it will advance the project of recovering the work of historical women philosophers. Four of the twelve philosophers I will focus on are women: Sinclair, Welby, Oakeley and Stebbing. There is currently very, very little scholarship on these women, and this project will open paths for more in the future. Finally, this project may advance twenty-first century debates. Philosophers of time today are still deeply concerned with some of the historical pieces this project will consider. McTaggart's 1908 paper "The Unreality of Time" has been cited nearly a thousand times since 2010, and Russell's 1915 paper "On the Experience of Time" has been cited nearly a hundred times in the same period. Studying the roots of twenty-first century theories about time will illuminate assumptions, reveal hidden motivations, and recover lost arguments. This work may be of use to contemporary philosophers of time. The scholarly interest in this project is demonstrated by the success of a conference I ran in Durham, on "Time in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Philosophy". It took place in September 2017 and was funded by my British Academy Rising Star grant. Historians and philosophers of time engaged fruitfully, and later turned their papers into a series of blog posts and podcasts. I edited the series and it was hosted on the Centre for the Philosophy of Time's website: http://www.centreforphilosophyoftime.it.