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prase comments on [Poll] Less Wrong and Mainstream Philosophy: How Different are We? - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (627)
Lean toward B-theory if pushed to answer, but I wonder what cognitive algorithm even generated this as a possibly interesting question.
Also, who the hell has invented the names for that?
I hate names likes that (incl. System 1 vs. System 2 thinking, Type I vs Type II errors, etc.). I can never remember which name stands for which thing.
J. M. E. McTaggart.
And he didn't mean to name competing theories about time; he was trying to dismiss the both of them.
I think he was just a B-theorist (though he thought the self-contradictory A-theory was an ineliminable part of our thoughts about time).
Wikipedia appears to confirm my memory of it ("McTaggart argued that the A series was a necessary component of any full theory of time, but that it was also self-contradictory and that our perception of time was, therefore, ultimately an incoherent illusion.")
Does it say he rejected the B-Theory?
It seems like the sentence I quoted indicates that he didn't consider it a "full theory of time". I don't feel like rereading the actual paper, though.
Looking at the paper, I find that you're right.
From memory, McTaggart argues that change is a necessary part of our concept of time. That B-theories can't account for change and that A-theories are incoherent. Consequently, time does not exist (but presumably something with some similarities to time does)
Philosophy trivia: "J.M.E. McTaggart" stands for "John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart".