Two-dimensional time

✍ Scribed by Ronald E. Nusenoff

• Book ID: 104781593
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1976
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 250 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0031-8116
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00473443

✦ Synopsis

An obvious disanalogy between time and space is that time is onedimensional and space is three-dimensional. A slightly less obvious one is that two-dimensional space is more easily conceivable than twodimensional time. In the addendum of her article 'Time, Space, and Objects', 1 Judith Thomson attempts to describe circumstances "which seem to me to be conceivable, and which are such that if such things came about the claim 'Time is two-dimensional' would have a point and a sense." (p. 20) She sketches out a temporal model which is supposed to provide such circumstances, and in conclusion suggests: (I)

"So there might conceivably be circumstances in which there would be a point to saying that a man is moving to the right or left in time." (p. 27)

A brief explanation will suffice to show that Thomson's temporal model in no way supports (I). I will then show that this model does not lend much support to the claim 'Time is two-dimensional' either.