Eternity a History

New York, New York: Oxford University Press USA (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Eternity is a unique kind of existence that is supposed to belong to the most real being or beings. It is an existence that is not shaken by the common wear and tear of time. Over the two and half millennia history of Western philosophy we find various conceptions of eternity, yet one sharp distinction between two notions of eternity seems to run throughout this long history: eternity as timeless existence, as opposed to eternity as existence in all times. Both kinds of existence stand in sharp contrast to the coming in and out of existence of ordinary beings, like hippos, humans, and toothbrushes: were these eternally-timeless, for example, a hippo could not eat, a human could not think or laugh, and a toothbrush would be of no use. Were a hippo an eternal-everlasting creature, it would not have to bother itself with nutrition in order to extend its existence. Everlasting human beings might appear similar to us, but their mental life and patterns of behavior would most likely be very different from ours.The distinction between eternity as timelessness and eternity as everlastingness goes back to ancient philosophy, to the works of Plato and Aristotle, and even to the fragments of Parmenides' philosophical poem. In the twentieth century, it seemed to go out of favor, though one could consider as eternalists those proponents of realism in philosophy of mathematics, and those of timeless propositions in philosophy of language. However, recent developments in contemporary physics and its philosophy have provided an impetus to revive notions of eternity due to the view that time and duration might have no place in the most fundamental ontology.The importance of eternity is not limited to strictly philosophical discussions. It is a notion that also has an important role in traditional Biblical interpretation. The Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name of God considered to be most sacred, is derived from the Hebrew verb for being, and as a result has been traditionally interpreted as denoting eternal existence. Hence, Calvin translates the Tetragrammaton as 'l'Eternel', and Mendelssohn as 'das ewige Wesen' or 'der Ewige'. Eternity also plays a central role in contemporary South American fiction, especially in the works of J.L. Borges. The representation of eternity poses a major challenge to both literature and arts. The current volume aims at providing a history of the philosophy of eternity surrounded by a series of short essays, or reflections, on the role of eternity and its representation in literature, religion, language, liturgy, science, and music. Thus, our aim is to provide a history of philosophy as a discipline that is in constant commerce with various other domains of human inquisition and exploration

Links

PhilArchive

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Eternity in Early Modern Philosophy.Yitzhak Melamed - 2016 - In Yitzhak Y. Melamed (ed.), Eternity: A History. Oxford University Press. pp. 129-167.
God and spacelessness.Paul Helm - 1982 - In Steven M. Cahn & David Shatz (eds.), Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 211-.
"By Eternity I Understand": Eternity According to Spinoza.Julie R. Klein - 2002 - Iyyun, The Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly 51 (July):295-324.
Time, Duration and Eternity in Spinoza.Bruce Baugh - 2010 - Comparative and Continental Philosophy 2 (2):211-233.
God, Eternity, and Time.C. Tapp (ed.) - 2011 - Ashgate.
Perpetuum mobiles and eternity.Marius Stan - 2016 - In Yitzhak Melamed (ed.), Eternity: the History of a Concept. Oxford University Press. pp. 173-178.
Eternity, Time and Timelessness.Delmas Lewis - 1988 - Faith and Philosophy 5 (1):72-86.
"Something of It Remains": Spinoza and Gersonides on Intellectual Eternity.Julie R. Klein - 2014 - In Steven M. Nadler (ed.), Spinoza and Jewish Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 177-203.
Considerazioni sull'enneade, III. 7 eternità e tempo.Daniele Bertini - 2006 - Giornale di Metafisica 28 (1):167-189.
'A Free Man Thinks of Nothing Less Than of Death': Spinoza on the Eternity of the Mind.Daniel Garber - 2005 - In Christia Mercer (ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 103--118.
Spinoza: The Enduring Questions. [REVIEW]Don Garrett - 1996 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 34 (3):460-461.
The arrow of time and the moving image of eternity.Raymond Aaron Younis - 2008 - Journal of Religious History 32 (1):109-116..

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-02-04

Downloads
624 (#26,652)

6 months
74 (#58,998)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Yitzhak Melamed
Johns Hopkins University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references