Theftz22
Smash Lord
Consider that to be in time, or temporal, essentially means being involved in a temporal relation. This means being temporally prior to, or temporally after, something else. Put formally, this means that given entity, event, or state x is temporal iff it is temporally prior to or temporally after another event, state, or entity.
Now consider the instance of time as a whole. I mean by that time, the entity. Time cannot be either temporally prior to or temporally after any other event, entity or state. This is because if it were, then the event, entity, or state itself would be temporal, as it would be either before or after time. But then that temporal event, entity, or state would be a part of the entity of time itself, as time as an entity may simply be defined as the sum of all temporal relations. Therefore since any event, entity, or state before or after time is involved in a temporal relation (namely, with time itself), it would therefore be a part of time. But time cannot be temporally prior or after itself. No entity can precede or come after itself, as that would entail that it has a different property than itself, namely the property: temporally precedes or comes after x (where x is taken to be the original entity we were considering). But any entity x must be identical to x (by the law of identity). Therefore no entity can precede or come after itself. And therefore time cannot precede or come after itself.
Therefore by the definition of temporal we are using, in the sense of being involved in a temporal relation, time as the sum of all temporal relations cannot be temporal. Therefore if time is not temporal, it is timeless, as timeless simply means not temporal.
In what sense can we say that time is time if it is timeless? Well, in the sense that time includes temporal relations. Within time, there are different temporal relations between different events, entities, and states. But time itself, as the sum of all temporal relations, must be timeless.
Now consider the instance of time as a whole. I mean by that time, the entity. Time cannot be either temporally prior to or temporally after any other event, entity or state. This is because if it were, then the event, entity, or state itself would be temporal, as it would be either before or after time. But then that temporal event, entity, or state would be a part of the entity of time itself, as time as an entity may simply be defined as the sum of all temporal relations. Therefore since any event, entity, or state before or after time is involved in a temporal relation (namely, with time itself), it would therefore be a part of time. But time cannot be temporally prior or after itself. No entity can precede or come after itself, as that would entail that it has a different property than itself, namely the property: temporally precedes or comes after x (where x is taken to be the original entity we were considering). But any entity x must be identical to x (by the law of identity). Therefore no entity can precede or come after itself. And therefore time cannot precede or come after itself.
Therefore by the definition of temporal we are using, in the sense of being involved in a temporal relation, time as the sum of all temporal relations cannot be temporal. Therefore if time is not temporal, it is timeless, as timeless simply means not temporal.
In what sense can we say that time is time if it is timeless? Well, in the sense that time includes temporal relations. Within time, there are different temporal relations between different events, entities, and states. But time itself, as the sum of all temporal relations, must be timeless.