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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

What is NOW? (Section 13; Group 4)

Hey everybody!

This week's reading was a bit challenging for me.  I had trouble understanding what Hugh Mellor meant by his idea that tense is different time.  I had always believed that tense described time.  In class today, I brought this up to a few people in my group.  We determined that tense is a temporary characteristic.  Something occurring tomorrow is future tense now, but will be past tense on Thursday.  Tense changes as time flows.  Time, however, does not change.  The exact moment in the flow of time that something occurs does not change as time continues flowing.  At first, this chapter was difficult to grasp, but when thought about, Mellor's thinking is actually not complex at all.  It makes perfect sense.

Factual Question:  Mellor argues that time and tense are one in the same.  True or False?
Answer: False.

Discussion Question:  Do you think time is infinite?  What would time travel say about Mellor's idea?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Arielle Roides (PHIL 1030-013; GROUP 4)


5 comments:

  1. I thought it was interesting that everything we are doing is "here" and "now," but it doesn't really matter where and when that is. We just label things to understand them essentially. I don't really understand how earlier and later can be used if past, present, and future cannot? aren't they all labels for the same infinite and incomprehensible thing called time?

    annnnd on the topic of Tim Crane/ Mind & Body....
    Im of the opinion that the mind is a separate entity from the brain, but i think it is part of the soul. There are some things I think we just cannot understand through science.

    F: True or False? Crane thinks we do have a soul? (False)
    D: Do you think a neurologist would be more likely to discover the cause of consciousness or a philosopher?

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  2. chelsea smith2:21 PM CDT

    I thought i was the only person to find it difficult to understannd Mellor's idea of being tense. As I read ARiel's thoughts about it,it started to make more since to me. Our next discussion is about CRane and his thoughts about the mind and body. I am looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.
    True or false:CRane thinks that neurologists could discover how the mind influences the body
    Answer:false

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  3. I think that Mellor's ideas might not have been expressed in the best terms possible due to concerns of brevity in PB. However, I find his supposition that time can only be divided into categories "things that have happened" and "things that have yet to happen" to be very interesting.

    In regards to the discussion of neurology vs. consciousness, I think that this topic is ripe for analysis

    F: Does Crane think that consciousness can be described in terms of neurological activity?
    no
    D: How does the concept of a Cartesian soul play into discussions of consciousness? Is this the only good explanation of human consciousness? If not, what other explanations might be offered?

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  4. Natalie Ricketts9:55 AM CDT

    We didn’t get much time to discuss “time” on Tuesday due to presentations, although i agree with what everyone has posted so far. It was a hard concept for me to grasp at first, having never really thought that deeply about it, but after I did, it made a lot of sense and I agree those are good philosophical thoughts to be aware of. On the issue of mind/body with Crane, I see the dilemma with the competing mental versus physical takes, although I don’t really know if I can agree with him when he says that some thinking/processing philosopher in an armchair somewhere could better understand the problem of consciousness than scientists. I think they would both have valuable input, but I think the scientists would have more factual and less biased information/evidence than the philosophers.
    --Crane says the best way to view the mind is as a ‘thing’ instead of a way of mental capacities? (T or F) False
    --Do you think consciousness is more mental or physical?

    --Natalie Ricketts

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  5. Amanda Gargano12:43 PM CDT

    To me time has always been a very confusing topic, because I don't really think that time exists. I was excited to read about Mellor's view on time, only to be further confused about it. I think that time is a made up thing, constructed so that all humans could have a general understanding of when events will take place. I think that Mellor poses a very interesting perspective about the tenses of time, but he does so in a very confusing way. I believe that he takes simple terms such as past present and future, and dissects them to make it seem like they are more complex....... Crane has a very interesting view on the connection of mind and body. True or false? Tim Crane believes that mental states and processes have real physical effects in the world. Do you think that it will be doctors or phiosophers who dissolve or solve the major problem of consciousness?

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