THE A-THEORY AND B-THEORY OF TIME

DIYA THAKUR
SEM 1, PHILOSOPHY(H)
22/PHI/08

The word 'Metaphysics' comes from the Greek words 'meta ta physika', which
translates to ‘after or behind or among [the study of] the natural.' Metaphysics is
a term that many people have trouble defining. There is a general debate about
what metaphysics is and what constitutes the subject matter of metaphysics. In a
broader sense, Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the
fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and
matter, substance and attribute, and potentiality and actuality.
Metaphysicians ask open-ended exploratory questions like, ‘What is the ‘Are
we living in a simulation?’, ‘Do we have free will?’ Metaphysicians also ask
questions concerned with the concept of time. But what exactly is ‘time’? How
often do we find ourselves asking questions like, ‘What time is it?’, ‘What do
you like to do in your free time?’, ‘At what time do you wake up?’ ‘At what
time do your classes end?’.
We have built our entire lives around this four-lettered word that sprints off
when we want more of it and slows down when we want it to move faster. As
observers of the physical realm, we humans only have a conceptual knowledge
or understanding of time. We aren’t aware of it directly, but we perceive it in
terms of its passing events and how the universe’s varying conditions portray it.
There have been numerous movies that try to explore the concept of ‘time’.
Films like ‘The Time Traveller’s wife,’ ‘Interstellar’ and ‘The Edge of
Tomorrow’ explore time traveling. Movies like ‘The future,’ ‘Mind over
Murder’ and ‘Twice Upon a Time’ explore the theme of freezing time.
All animals, except humans, are constantly in the present and have no concept
of the past, present, or future. Thus, one of the most crucial characteristics that
set humans apart from other creatures and define us from them is our awareness
of time. Therefore, it is not surprising that philosophers have debated the actual
nature of time since the beginning of time. What kind of material, if any, does
time consist of? How can we be sure that time is real? Does time have a start
and finish? Is it a circle or a straight line?
THE PHILOSOPHY OF TIME
The metaphysics of time is the part of the philosophy of time that asks questions
about the nature of temporal reality. One critical question is whether time is
static or dynamic, whether it flows or passes. What concerns metaphysicians in
this aspect is whether or not a particular time is metaphysically privileged. If
yes, does this privilege in the metaphysical sense move on from time to time?
Two theories (in opposition to each other) answer these aforementioned
questions: The A-theory and the B-theory of time.
1.1 The A-theory of Time
The A-theory is also known as ‘tensed theory’ or ‘dynamic view.’
According to this theory, times move in a metaphysically robust sense
where there is a natural flow of time as past events subside further and
further into the past and the future events come nearer and nearer to the
present. The A-theorists believe in the idea that the present is
metaphysically privileged in a way from past and future events.
Famously, there are three significant distinctions within the A-theory-
Presentism, The Growing Block View and The Moving Spotlighters.
These aforementioned theories provide divergent accounts of the said
metaphysical privilege and how the present is metaphysically
idiosyncratic.
Presentists believe that only the present exists. As time passes, times
come into and go out of existence. The past and the future, in that sense,
are unreal. The Growing block view holds that both the past and the
present exist, but the future doesn’t. The growing block view is an effort
to accurately represent the perception that the future is an unfixed,
unchangeable universe of possibilities, in contrast to the past. Saying that
the future is open in an ontological sense and does not exist, unlike the
past, effectively expresses this. The Moving Spotlighters are firm
believers of eternalism. Therefore, they hold the view that all times (the
past, present and the future) exist, but only one of them has the
metaphysical privilege of being present absolutely. As this privilege
moves on, time passes.

1.2 The B-theory of Time

The B-theory also goes by the names ‘static view’, ‘block universe view’
and ‘tenseless theory.’ The B-theory of time iterates that the present is not
metaphysically privileged or distinguished from the past or the future. B-
theorists believe that all times (past, present and future) exist. Therefore,
they have much in common with moving spotlighters, but unlike the
moving spotlighters or, in fact, all A-theorists, the B-theorists don’t
believe in the concept of ‘moving’ or ‘flowing’ time. In many key
respects, the B-theorists reckon that time is like space. Nothing is
particularly remarkable about the present, despite the fact that each
 moment is present in relation to itself, just like each spatial location is in
relation to itself. In that respect, if put simply, the B-theorists hold that
there isn’t anything metaphysically distinguished about 2023 in
comparison to the year 1670 or the year 3456, in the same way as there
isn’t anything metaphysically exceptional about New York, as opposed to
say, London. The terms ‘past’, ‘present,’ and ‘future’ merely designate
moments that occurred before, at the same time as or after, in relation to
the considered time.

THE ORIGIN OF THE A VERSUS B DEBATE

The A versus B conflict is rooted in a long history dating back to the
Presocratic. In contrast to Parmenides, who appears to have denied the existence
of change, Heraclitus famously declared that "everything is in flux." This
contrast mirrors the contemporary ‘dynamic vs. static views of time’ divide in
many ways.
The contemporary discourse owes much of its inception to the work of the
British idealist J.M.E McTaggart. He firmly held that time was not real, and his
argument for this claim makes central use of a distinction between two ways of
thinking about the events that make up world history. First, one can think of
these events as being earlier or later than one another. The result is the B-series
of events. Second, one can think of the events as past, present or future. This
results in the A-series of events. One way to appreciate the difference is to
notice that it’s always true that the Cold War happened before The Shock
Therapy, no matter when one says it, but that it is not now true to say that the
shock therapy is in the future. The B-series is always the same, but the A-series
is not since it distinguishes one moment as being present. The A- and the B-
series are required at the level of everyday thought, as McTaggart observed,
because humans do appear to construct time in both of these ways. Which of
these two series is more fundamental than the other is the metaphysical
conundrum. The A-theorists believe that the A series is more fundamental. B-
theorists, by contrast, think that the B-series is more fundamental.

CRITICISMS OF THE THEORIES

A-theorists believe their explanation is more accurate for how the world seems
to us: it appears that time is flowing and that future is coming nearer. Yet it is
the flow of time and the attendant change in A-properties that makes it
inconsistent. A-theorists believe that each event has the properties of pastness,
presentness and futurity. But in actuality, the very same event can’t be both past
and future, leading to inconsistency. B-theorists do not face this problem
because they uphold the view that the properties of an event being in the past,
present, or the future is relative to other events. The A-theory also faces
challenges from the theory of relativity.
Many think that the B-theory gives rise to a problem concerning the temporal
experience. While the B-theory’s denial of the robust temporal passage makes it
more compatible with our most advanced physical theories, it also produces a
perspective on time that may seem radically at odds with how things look. For
instance, the present does seem more accurate than the future. The
inconsistencies here arise in terms of a human’s perceptual sense. Therefore, the
only problem the B-theorists face is explaining why the world seems to us the
way it does if their theory is plausible.