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Persona #186

J. M. E. McTaggart

1866–1925
British idealist philosopher; Cambridge fellow; author of "The Nature of Existence" and the celebrated 1908 argument for the unreality of time

The unreality of time — the A-series / B-series distinction that founded analytic philosophy of time

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute J. M. E. McTaggart
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Emergent
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Emergent
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Emergent
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Total
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Disembodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Cosmic-ordering
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method N/A
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Emergent
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Reversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

J. M. E. McTaggart

Time is ultimately unreal; what we call temporal succession is a confused appearance of the timeless C-series (the inclusion relation among loving spirits).

Space

J. M. E. McTaggart

Emergent appearance; ultimate reality is the community of spiritual substances.

Matter

J. M. E. McTaggart

Emergent appearance.

Observer

J. M. E. McTaggart

Plural immortal spiritual substances in a community of mutual love. Cosmic-ordering: the absolute as the community itself.

Energy

J. M. E. McTaggart

Emergent appearance of the timeless underlying reality.

Information

J. M. E. McTaggart

Personal spiritual substances eternally conserved.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

J. M. E. McTaggart

McTaggart's sharp negative argument against time has been almost universally accepted as a major philosophical contribution; his positive system of communitarian-personalist idealism has been almost universally rejected. Russell, Moore, and the entire analytic tradition that came out of Cambridge took the destructive moment but not the constructive one.