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Even though Augustine provides reasons to support his statements in Confessions, some of his reasons or statements are still subject to critic. From here on, I will state possible objections by the critics and defend with my own reasons to support Augustine and strengthen his arguments. First of all, Augustine’s statement that time seems to move toward the non-existence (past) gives opening for critics to object by reasoning that in all cases, time only flows from the past into the future; coffee and milk will mix spontaneously after pouring the milk in (future) but will never un-mix after pouring milk in (past). The critic’s reason seems to be reasonable only on the ground that the critic already knows that milk and coffee will mix. What about to the majority with no knowledge of it? In my opinion, to such people, time flows from the future into the non-existence past; they can predict at a certain moment (present) that milk and coffee will mix (future) by basing on their previous experience that X and Y does mix recently (present of future things), at the instant they pour the milk into coffee they will see that it mixes (present of present things), and in the end they knew that milk and coffee did mix (past) and next time, will remember at an instant like they remembered that X and Y did mix before (present of past things). Therefore, I believe “time exists … in the sense that it tends toward non-existence”.

Second, a critic can argue that time exists not at the present instant with no duration but instead that it does have measurable duration, can provide examples of how a person can tell how long it takes for an object to move from point A to B, who can run faster or how a watch can tell the duration, and can argue how all the measurements can be done not through the mind but experimentally, externally from the mind. The critic needs to keep in mind that these are two different “times” she is referring to. Augustine is referring to time from larger creation view point in the sense that in eternity, there is only present, but in this world there seems to be past, present and future, which conveys that the bodies are created with time and moving in time. However the critic is referring to the different notion of time or fractional instant of the creation timeline. Nonetheless, if we are to accept that past and future have no existence or that time doesn’t have real existence in them, at any instant present, there will be no duration; for instance when trying to measure how fast a person is running at the present, she will see that it is immeasurable. And if we are to judge who runs faster, in order for us to remember the “time” taken for both runners, we may have to simultaneously recall form memory of their times and in this case, present is working with the past through memory, using the distention of the soul, the mind. In these cases, either the critic’s counter arguments are irrelevant to Augustine’s main concept of time or the arguments which are meant to contradict his concepts are instead being supportive. Read the rest of this entry »

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Even though the three types of times do not have a real existence, people still talk about and measure time. Since a person cannot measure something that does not exist, in order for him to be measuring time, it must exist for him in a sense. Augustine concluded that the existence of time in the humans can be achieved through existing in the present and by experiencing memories (past) and predictions (future) (Book XI: 20). Instead of stating there are three times in past, present, and future perspectives which are proven to have no real existence, Augustine now reasons that time can be in some sort of existence as such: “a present of past things, a present of present things, and a present of future things”. This is what he means; if a person remembers how things those were in the past were like when they were at the present, it is through his memories at the present time, and if a person predicts how things will exist in the future, it is through the notion of present happenings and making extrapolation at this present time. Augustine now holds the idea that time can be measured only when it is in the passing processes through the present moment since it cannot be measured before passing, for they will be nothing and cannot be measured after it has passed, for there will no longer be anything existing to be measured. However, Augustine does not know how we can actually measure this instant of the present although it appears to be measurable to people because the present, as stated previously, does not have actual duration or extension. He disagrees with other philosophers or astrologers’ way of measuring time through the movement of the heavenly bodies because he believes that bodies are just moving in time and not time itself (Book XI: 24); even if the sun did stop as told in the bible, the hours that make up one day will still pass and therefore, time cannot be measured through movement of bodies.

The idea Augustine holds, in addition to the statement that time has existence only in a sense of present instant with no duration, is that time is a extension of the soul into the temporal world (Book XI: 26). Augustine knows that this would mean the soul is falling away from what is previously believed to be close to the goodness as in God, but this is the only possible way so far to measure time. When people measure time, they measure as if time is the property of the soul in that people are measuring things in their own memories at the present moment; since the past does not actually exist and the only way to measure time then is to measure it while it is passing at the “present of past things” state, people consider things from the past as though happening in the present only through memories. Since memories cannot be perceived by bodily aspects but only through the mind or the soul, time is an extension of the soul in a sense for Augustine.

In summary, Augustine states that time, past, present, and future do not have real existence because the present instant has no duration, that the reason why people still speak of time as measurable is when it is in passing process to reach to the non-existing past through the present, that time, as widely used by most, can only exist in the present through memories and predictions, and that time is in some way an extension of the soul.

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Literatures Cited
Saint Augustine. Confessions.1961. Penguin Group, Book XI.

Copyrighted By:  Kaung Ko | KMKBlog.com

In Book XI of “Confessions”, Augustine questions the nature of time and expresses the possibilities of its nature by providing examples regarding the three types of time, past, present and future. This paper will present that Augustine’s conclusion on the nature of time not only succeeds but is consistent with both the occurrence in nature and the Biblical aspect of God. In the first paragraph, the reasons behind Augustine’s inquiry of nature of time will be explained along with the reasons behind his statement of timeless God. Second paragraph will convey why time does not have real existence in the sense of past, present, and future aspects while the third paragraph will explain that time can have existence by existing in the present and by experiencing memories (past) and predictions (future). Third paragraph will explain why extension of the soul accounts for ability to measure time, followed by the fourth paragraph, summarizing Augustine’s arguments. Beginning from the fifth paragraph, I will critically engage Augustine’s argument by providing possible objections by the critics and defending Augustine by providing my own examples and reasons. From the seventh paragraph and beyond, I will conclude by providing a model to further support Augustine’s statements and show how they are consistent with most views. Summary will be presented in the last paragraph.

According to Augustine, God creates the heavenly and earthly bodies with time t and not in time, that there cannot be time before that time t. Since there is no time before time t, Augustine argues in defense against the critics that one cannot ask what God was doing “then” “before” all the creations because then and before both refer to having a time before the creation (Book XI: 10,11). Augustine also advises to take creationism in Genesis spiritually instead of taking it literally in a sense that God did not create things like a craftsman would have because there are no being or intermediate ingredients or substances to be used in creation of the universe and the world (Book XI: 5). From this and since God of Eternity is the Beginning and the End in Himself where there is none before and after, Augustine concludes that creation of time by a timeless God should then be a timeless act. However, Augustine does not understand why God creates the world, which is still in time and is changing in time and why he or others think they know what time is but fail to answer its nature. These lead to his inquiry of the nature of time itself. Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window

In the last few years the blogging craze has taken over the internet and has become a worldwide phenomenon. Some people are using blogs to post events taking place in their everyday life while others are earning a living from it. For people who are thinking about starting a blog; choosing between blogging websites and buying their own domain can be a confusing question indeed. Some people may be impressed by the popularity of blogging sites and come to the decision that they are a good place to start, while other may prefer the independence of having a personal domain name.

Here are some pros and cons of both blogging platforms and hosted blogs.

Blogging Platforms

Pros:

Most popular hosted platforms like Wordpress and Blogger are free of cost. You can setup a blog in no time since everything is already done for you. Hosted blogs are easier to maintain and posting content on them is a simple process. You don’t have to worry about updates as they are done automatically. Another advantage is that you get ranked easily because your blog is on a domain that ranks well already.

Cons:

If you like to customize your blog then you may get frustrated with hosted platform. Of course, Read the rest of this entry »

Podcast: Play in new window

AdSense is the most popular service going around but there are some people who prefer other services like Adbrite and Clicksor. In order to find out which is the best out of these three we have to take a look at some of their features and flaws.

Adbrite

AdBrite sells ad space on websites. It allows you to set your own ad rates, and approve or reject every ad that’s purchased for your site. AdBrite enables you to sell ads directly to your visitor and also through the sales team and marketplace.

You get 75% of the sale. 50% of AdBrite’s sales are generated from marketplace and sales team, while the other half are generated from users clicking “Your Ad Here” on their publisher’s sites.

AdBrite’s ads take a day or two to show up. Their network is not as large as Adsense so it takes a few months to build a client list and you will have to wait to see the same return you may get from Adsense right away. There is a 60 day payment rule.

Clicksor

With Clicksor you can get up to 60% of the advertising clicks revenues generated from your website. It allows you to check your progress through online real time stats. You will get paid according to their fortnightly payment schedule. $50.00 is the payment threshold and payments are made either by check or PayPal. Anything under $50 will be rolled into the next period. You can also earn additional money by underlining a selection of clickable text or putting targeted contextual banner on their websites.

Some people complain that their ads load very slowly. This may be because Clicksor does not generate code in an iframe; you have to load it directly on your page. The benefits on promoting their affiliate program seem to be important than actual PPC products. Although some CLICKSOR users are not sure if affiliates of Clicksor can also use Google due to Google’s TOS violation issue, others claim to have both programs running at the same time.

AdSense

With AdSense you can setup your ads easily and they show up within few hours. The management system and support is very good. Payments are made within 30 days. There is a high payout levels on websites that are text based and content oriented. The click rates are also high.

AdSense has strict acceptance policies and people get ban occasionally for random reasons, some are understandable, some are not. The payout is low on sites that are image based. There is also a limit on the number of ads that you can have on a page.

Considering the features and flaws of the three advertising platforms it can be concluded that the best platform for you really depends on the type of website you have. For instance, content based websites may make more money with Adsense advertisements and Adbrite may be a better choice if you have an image based website.

- Kaung | KMKBlog.com