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

过去或未来是真实的吗？时间是否有一个不可逆转的方向，从过去到未来？现在真的会移动，让未来的婚礼变成现在，然后变成过去吗？今天，这些问题是时间哲学的核心。但情况并非总是如此。通过我之前关于时间哲学史的研究，我开始相信这些问题是最近才提出的：它们在 1870 年代至 1930 年代的英国哲学中首次被明确而详细地讨论。在此期间，哲学家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。 “生长块”理论家认为，过去和现在都是真实的，但未来是不真实的。 “A 理论家”认为当前确实在发生变化，而“B 理论家”则否认这一点。二十一世纪的时间哲学家经常引用二十世纪初的重要著作，表明他们也将当代理论与这段历史联系起来。 这个哲学史项目讲述了“起源故事”。它探讨了二十世纪初英国哲学中为何以及如何出现关于过去、现在和未来的新问题。我的初步研究表明，十二位哲学家是这些变化的核心：沙德沃斯·霍奇森、伯特兰·罗素、维多利亚·韦尔比、J·M·E·麦克塔加特、阿瑟·爱丁顿、苏珊·斯特宾、塞缪尔·亚历山大、C·D·布罗德、A·N·怀特海德、J·W·邓恩、希尔达·奥克利和梅·辛克莱。该项目将探索他们的时间理论，并将其置于该时期的背景中。他们的工作受到科学发展的影响，包括生物学中的新进化理论、心理学中的时间感知新理论以及物理学中的时空新理论。 这项研究将是此类研究中的第一项，其重要性有以下三个原因。首先，它将推进时间哲学的历史。时间是十九世纪末二十世纪初英国哲学的一个关键问题：据我所知，这一时期的英国形而上学家没有一个不按时间写东西的。研究英国哲学中的这个问题将极大地增进我们对他们的时间理论以及对这一时期英国形而上学的理解。 其次，它将推进恢复历史女哲学家著作的项目。我将重点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奖学金非常非常少，而这个项目将为未来更多的人开辟道路。 最后，这个项目可能会推进二十一世纪的辩论。今天的时间哲学家仍然对这个项目将考虑的一些历史作品深感关注。麦克塔格特1908年的论文《时间的不真实》自2010年以来已被引用近千次，罗素1915年的论文《论时间的体验》同期已被引用近百次。研究二十一世纪时间理论的根源将阐明假设，揭示隐藏的动机，并恢复丢失的论点。这部作品可能对当代哲学家有用。 我在达勒姆举办的一次关于“二十世纪和二十一世纪哲学中的时间”的会议的成功证明了对该项目的学术兴趣。它于 2017 年 9 月举行，由我的英国学院新星奖资助。当时的历史学家和哲学家卓有成效地参与其中，后来将他们的论文变成了一系列博客文章和播客。我编辑了该系列，并将其托管在时间哲学中心的网站上：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.