Primordial Time: Its Irreducible Reality, Human Significance, and Ecological Import

(Hardback)

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What if there is no such thing as a real passage of time What differences would this idea make for our conception of the world and of our lives in the world Donald A. Crosbys Primordial Time: Its Irreducible Reality, Human Significance, and Ecological Import defends the objective, underived reality of time and its crucial existential and ecological significance by focusing on the qualitative, inner experiences of the passage of time. The time of these inner experiences has often been described as illusory, on the ground that there is no such thing as an objective passage of time. But Crosby argues that the firsthand human experience of time, far from being illusory, provides essential evidence of the reality of itevidence complemented by close examination of scientific and philosophical indications of the objective reality of timeas against its detractors. Of equal importance is the existential meaning of firsthand experience of the passage of timemeaning apart from which the dynamics of human life collapse into absurdity. Finally, Crosby explores the central, urgent role of the reality of time in relation to the ecological crisis of our day.

Reviews

"Donald Crosby's latest book is an elegant philosophical essay on the nature of time as the ground of nature and value. Through accessible philosophical reflection and interdisciplinary engagement with physicists and cosmologists, Crosby argues that the flowing of time is real, irrepressible, and primordial, rather than illusory, cyclical, or contingent. Through phenomenological analysis and existential reflection, he shows how the unyielding surge of time is essential to understanding why our lives feel the way they do--why we care about anything, why we mourn and grieve. Finally, in a time of ecological emergency, in which we may be running out of time, Crosby's book calls upon us to recognize the fierce timeliness of our responsibilities."--Michael S. Hogue, author of American Immanence: Democracy for an Uncertain World
"This book is a profound meditation on death, not as the end of life, but in the primordial sense that each moment passes in time. The fruit of that meditation is a rich argument about what time really is--indeed, nothing is more real than time--and why time matters. This is a bold argument; in making it, Crosby challenges a long list of thinkers who have speculated about the nature of time, ranging from Augustine to Einstein. Affirming time's primordial reality is the key both for determining what makes a human life worth living and for evaluating our contemporary ecological crisis. Readers will discover here the mature reflection of a distinguished religious naturalist whose work keeps getting even better with time!"--Michael Raposa, Lehigh University

Author Bio

Donald A. Crosby is professor of philosophy emeritus at Colorado State University.