Aurelius Augustine and Aristotle's Concept of Time

In: Voprosy filosofii: naučno-teoretičeskij žurnal, Heft 7, S. 168-183

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparison of the doctrine of time in Aristotle and Aurelius Augustine. Given that Augustine had two basic complementary concepts of time: subjective-psychological and objective-physical, the author consistently examines four points in which Augustine's doctrine on time resembles Aristotle's doctrine: first, the concept of time as a number or measure of movement of things in relation to the preceding and the following; secondly, the fluidity of time and the elusiveness of its moments (i.e. "paradoxes of time"); third, the concept of time as an infinitely divisible continuum, in which the moment of "now" is the boundary of time and the unit of its measurement; fourthly, the role of human soul in the perception and measurement of time. The author demonstrates that, de­spite the widespread opinion about the predominance of Neoplatonic influence on the thought of Augustine, his doctrine of time in its basic principles goes back to Aristotle. At the end of the article, the main differences in views on the phe­nomenon of time in Augustine and Aristotle are indicated.