Time and Time Again: Reports from a Boundary of the Universe (Supplements to the Study of Time)

448 Pages·2007·5.57 MB·English

by  J. T. Fraser

Time and Time Again
FRASER_Prelims_i-iv.indd i 1/11/2007 11:09:39 AM
Supplements to
Th e Study of Time
Edited by
Paul Gifford
School of Oriental and African Studies, London
Deputy Editor
Ingrid Lawrie
Th e Mirfi eld Centre
VOLUME 1
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Time and Time Again
Reports from a Boundary of the Universe
By
J. T. Fraser
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2007
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Th is book is printed on acid-free paper.
On the Cover: Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Overlooking a Sea of Fog, (1818).
It is reproduced by kind permission of the Hamburger Kunsthalle.
Hamburger Kunsthalle / Stift ung off entlichen Rechts, Glockengiessenwall / 20095
Hamburg / Telefon ++49 (0) 40-428-131-200.
E-mail [email protected] / Internet www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de.
FOTOBESTELLUNG: SEIT JULI 2002 NIMMT DAS BILDARCHIV
PREUSSISCHER KULTURBESITZ EXCCKUSIV DIE VERWERTUNG VON
NUTZUNGRECHTEN AN FOTOS DER HAMBURGER KUNSTHALLE WAHR.
A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 1873-7463
ISBN 978-90-04-15485-8
© Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
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printed in the netherlands
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For Jane
my wife and beloved companion
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................... ix
About the Cover ........................................................................................... xi
Th e Whir and the Bell ................................................................................. xiii
1. Th e change ringing cosmos ................................................................ 1
COMPLEXITY AND ITS MEASURE ....................................... 5
2. From timelessness to time ................................................................... 13
OUT OF PLATO’S CAVE: THE NATURAL HISTORY
OF TIME ............................................................................................... 15
3. Reality as examined appearances ...................................................... 37
THE EXTENDED UMWELT PRINCIPLE:
UEXKÜLL AND THE NATURE OF TIME ............................ 39
4. What kind of a universe to expect? .................................................. 51
MATHEMATICS AND TIME ...................................................... 53
5. Th e beginning or origin of time ........................................................ 65
THE SECULAR MYSTERY OF THE FIRST DAY ................ 67
6. Constraining chaos .............................................................................. 81
FROM CHAOS TO CONFLICT ................................................ 83
7. Th ose metaphysical devices ................................................................ 99
CLOCKWORKS BEYOND THEMSELVES ............................ 101
8. How to use a clock ............................................................................... 113
SPACE-TIME IN THE STUDY OF TIME ............................... 115
9. Coordinated clock shops .................................................................... 133
TIME AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE .......................................... 135
10. From puppy love to faithful love ....................................................... 151
TEMPORAL LEVELS: A FUNDAMENTAL
SYNTHESIS ........................................................................................ 153
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viii contents
11. Logos at the edge of the cosmos ........................................................ 175
TEMPORAL LEVELS AND REALITY TESTING ............... 177
12. Unbounding society ............................................................................ 217
TIME, INFINITY, AND THE WORLD IN
ENLIGHTENMENT THOUGHT ............................................. 219
13. Th at awesome gift ................................................................................. 235
HUMAN FREEDOM ....................................................................... 237
14. Opiates that civilize ............................................................................. 255
TIME FELT, TIME UNDERSTOOD ......................................... 257
15. How to perpetuate confl icts ............................................................... 267
CHANGE, PERMANENCE, AND HUMAN VALUES ...... 269
16. Th e true .................................................................................................. 295
TRUTH AS A RECOGNITION OF PERMANENCE:
AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CRITIQUE ................................ 297
17. Music do I hear? Homer, Borges, and the Pied Piper ................... 311
18. A diff erent wonder ............................................................................... 319
THE PROBLEMS OF EXPORTING FAUST .......................... 323
19. Being the one and only ........................................................................ 347
TIME, GLOBALIZATION, AND THE NASCENT
IDENTITY OF MANKIND .......................................................... 349
20. Turmoil at the anthill threshold ........................................................ 361
HAMLET’S CASTLE IN CYBERSPACE .................................. 363
21. Whose past is our prologue? .............................................................. 381
REFLECTIONS UPON AN EVOLVING MIRROR ............. 383
22. Expanding the universe ....................................................................... 399
Notes ............................................................................................................... 403
Index ................................................................................................................ 429
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Th e Essays of J. T. Fraser in this volume are reprinted by permission and with
appreciation of the author and the publisher from the following sources.
“Th e Whir and the Bell” unpublished
1. “Complexity and its Measure,” in J. T. Fraser, Time, Confl ict, and Human
Values, pp. 235–242 & 290–292. Urbana and Chicago: University of
Illinois Press, 1999.
2. “Out of Plato’s Cave: Th e Natural History of Time,” Th e Kenyon Review,
NS2, Winter, (1980), pp. 143–62.
3. “Th e Extended Umwelt Principle: von Uexküll and the Nature of Time.”
Jakob von Uexküll: a Paradigm for Biology and Semiotics” Kalevi Kull,
ed. Semiotica, (134–1/4, 2001), pp. 263–74.
4. “Mathematics and Time,” in KronoScope, Vol. 3. No. 2. (2003) pp.
153–167.
5. “Th e Secular Mystery of the First Day,” in Walter Schweidler, ed.
Zeit: Anfang und Ende, Sankt Augustine: Academia Verlag, 2004. pp.
431–445.
6. “From Chaos to Confl ict,” in Time, Order, Chaos—Th e Study of Time
IX, J. T. Fraser, Marlene Soulsby and Alexander Argyros, eds. Madison,
CT: International Universities Press, 1998, pp. 2–17.
7. “Clockworks Beyond Th emselves,” introductory essay to the catalog of
the Clockwork exhibit at MIT’s List Visual Art Center, 1989.
8. “Space-time in the Study of Time,” KronoScope, Vol. 5, No. 2, (2006)
pp. 151–176
9. “Time and the Origin of Life,” in J. T. Fraser and M. P. Soulsby, eds.
Dimensions of Time and Life: Th e Study of Time VIII, Madison, CT:
International Universities Press, 1995, pp. 3–27.
10. “Temporal Levels: a Fundamental Synthesis,” in J. Social and Biological
Structures. v. 1. (1978) pp. 339–355.
11. “Temporal Levels and Reality Testing,” in Int. J. Psycho-Analysis, Vol. 62
No. 3 (1981) pp. 3–26.
12. “Time, Infi nity, and the World in Enlightenment Th ought,” in Time,
Literature, and the Arts: Essays in Honor of Samuel L. Macey. T. R.
Cleary, ed. Victoria, B.C. University of Victoria, 1994, pp. 192–211.
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