A Matter of Time
College Course 2
Winter 1999
Dwight Lahr and Beatriz Pastor
Friday Discussion: Week 3
Part 1: Norbert Elias states on Pp. 20-21 of Time: An Essay:
The fact that people must and can orientate themselves in their world by acquiring knowledge, their total dependence on the learning of social symbols for their survival as individuals and as a group, is another of the peculiarities distinguishing humans from other living beings.Among the symbols which human beings can learn and, from a certain stage of social development on, must learn as means of orientation, is time.
Keeping this quote in mind, answer the first four questions.
Question 1: How are time and space conceptualized by Zeno in his paradox?
[cf. Lahr notes #3]
Related Issues
(a) What is the role of infinity in the paradox?
(b) What is the relationship between the finite and the infinite in the paradox?
(c) In what sense can we say that Zeno's concepts of space and time are a means of orientation?
(d) How do they, as means of orientation, relate to knowledge?
Question 2: How are space and time conceptualized in Dwight's resolution of Zeno's paradox?
[cf. Lahr notes #3]
Related Issues
(a) What is the role of infinity in Dwight's argument?
(b) What is the relationship between the finite and the infinite in the mathematical resolution?
(c) In what sense can we say that the mathematical conceptualization of time and space is a means of orientation?
(d) How do they, as means of orientation, relate to knowledge?
Question 3: How are space and time conceptualized in Borges' Death and the Compass?
[cf. Death and the Compass]
Related Issues
(a) What is the meaning and function of numbers and geometry in the story?
(b) What is the difference between Lönnrot's concept of space and time and Scharlach's concept of space and time?
(c) What is Borges' critique of the compass and the calendar as means of orientation?
(d) Borges' critique notwithstanding, is abstract reasoning necessary in order to formulate models of reality?
(e) Who is the pursuer and who is the pursued in the story?
(f) Are different conceptualizations of space and time coexisting side by side in the story?
(g) How do they, as means of orientation, relate to knowledge?
Question 4: Plato separates knowledge into two kinds: knowledge of the world, that we gain from everyday experience and observation; and knowledge of ideas, what he calls the real knowledge. In our study of Zeno's paradox and Death and the Compass, which kind(s) of knowledge does each exhibit: Zeno, Dwight, Lönnrot, Scharlach?
Related Issues
Questions 1-3 above.
Part 2:
Question 5: We have discussed some of the mathematical relationships between the finite and the infinite. How are these relationships played out in some creation myths (Hesiod's Theogony, Genesis) and in the Timaeus?
Related Issues
(a) Can you give examples of different visual representations of Time in creation myths?
(b) Can you give examples of different visual representations of Time in the Timaeus?
(c) What is the difference between the circle, the line, and the spiral in terms of the relationships between the finite and the infinite?
(d) How do they correlate with different perceptions of eternity (e.g. individual, social, …)?