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the six enneads-第59部分
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andard of measure or as something inevitably accompanying Movement; abstract or definite。 8。 Movement Time cannot be… whether a definite act of moving is meant or a united total made up of all such acts… since movement; in either sense; takes place in Time。 And; of course; if there is any movement not in Time; the identification with Time becomes all the less tenable。 In a word; Movement must be distinct from the medium in which it takes place。 And; with all that has been said or is still said; one consideration is decisive: Movement can come to rest; can be intermittent; Time is continuous。 We will be told that the Movement of the All is continuous 'and so may be identical with Time'。 But; if the reference is to the Circuit of the heavenly system 'it is not strictly continuous; or equable; since' the time taken in the return path is not that of the outgoing movement; the one is twice as long as the other: this Movement of the All proceeds; therefore; by two different degrees; the rate of the entire journey is not that of the first half。 Further; the fact that we hear of the Movement of the outermost sphere being the swiftest confirms our theory。 Obviously; it is the swiftest of movements by taking the lesser time to traverse the greater space the very greatest… all other moving things are slower by taking a longer time to traverse a mere segment of the same extension: in other words; Time is not this movement。 And; if Time is not even the movement of the Kosmic Sphere much less is it the sphere itself though that has been identified with Time on the ground of its being in motion。 Is it; then; some phenomenon or connection of Movement? Let us; tentatively; suppose it to be extent; or duration; of Movement。 Now; to begin with; Movement; even continuous; has no unchanging extent 'as Time the equable has'; since; even in space; it may be faster or slower; there must; therefore; be some unit of standard outside it; by which these differences are measurable; and this outside standard would more properly be called Time。 And failing such a measure; which extent would be Time; that of the fast or of the slow… or rather which of them all; since these speed…differences are limitless? Is it the extent of the subordinate Movement '= movement of things of earth'? Again; this gives us no unit since the movement is infinitely variable; we would have; thus; not Time but Times。 The extent of the Movement of the All; then? The Celestial Circuit may; no doubt; be thought of in terms of quantity。 It answers to measure… in two ways。 First there is space; the movement is commensurate with the area it passes through; and this area is its extent。 But this gives us; still; space only; not Time。 Secondly; the circuit; considered apart from distance traversed; has the extent of its continuity; of its tendency not to stop but to proceed indefinitely: but this is merely amplitude of Movement; search it; tell its vastness; and; still; Time has no more appeared; no more enters into the matter; than when one certifies a high pitch of heat; all we have discovered is Motion in ceaseless succession; like water flowing ceaselessly; motion and extent of motion。 Succession or repetition gives us Number… dyad; triad; etc。… and the extent traversed is a matter of Magnitude; thus we have Quantity of Movement… in the form of number; dyad; triad; decade; or in the form of extent apprehended in what we may call the amount of the Movement: but; the idea of Time we have not。 That definite Quantity is merely something occurring within Time; for; otherwise Time is not everywhere but is something belonging to Movement which thus would be its substratum or basic…stuff: once more; then; we would be making Time identical with Movement; for the extent of Movement is not something outside it but is simply its continuousness; and we need not halt upon the difference between the momentary and the continuous; which is simply one of manner and degree。 The extended movement and its extent are not Time; they are in Time。 Those that explain Time as extent of Movement must mean not the extent of the movement itself but something which determines its extension; something with which the movement keeps pace in its course。 But what this something is; we are not told; yet it is; clearly; Time; that in which all Movement proceeds。 This is what our discussion has aimed at from the first: 〃What; essentially; is Time?〃 It comes to this: we ask 〃What is Time?〃 and we are answered; 〃Time is the extension of Movement in Time!〃 On the one hand Time is said to be an extension apart from and outside that of Movement; and we are left to guess what this extension may be: on the other hand; it is represented as the extension of Movement; and this leaves the difficulty what to make of the extension of Rest… though one thing may continue as long in repose as another in motion; so that we are obliged to think of one thing Time that covers both Rest and Movements; and; therefore; stands distinct from either。 What then is this thing of extension? To what order of beings does it belong? It obviously is not spatial; for place; too; is something outside it。 9。 〃A Number; a Measure; belonging to Movement?〃 This; at least; is plausible since Movement is a continuous thin; but let us consider。 To begin with; we have the doubt which met us when we probed its identification with extent of Movement: is Time the measure of any and every Movement? Have we any means of calculating disconnected and lawless Movement? What number or measure would apply? What would be the principle of such a Measure? One Measure for movement slow and fast; for any and every movement: then that number and measure would be like the decade; by which we reckon horses and cows; or like some common standard for liquids and solids。 If Time is this Kind of Measure; we learn; no doubt; of what objects it is a Measure… of Movements… but we are no nearer understanding what it is in itself。 Or: we may take the decade and think of it; apart from the horses or cows; as a pure number; this gives us a measure which; even though not actually applied; has a definite nature。 Is Time; perhaps; a Measure in this sense? No: to tell us no more of Time in itself than that it is such a number is merely to bring us back to the decade we have already rejected; or to some similar collective figure。 If; on the other hand; Time is 'not such an abstraction but' a Measure possessing a continuous extent of its own; it must have quantity; like a foot…rule; it must have magnitude: it will; clearly; be in the nature of a line traversing the path of Movement。 But; itself thus sharing in the movement; how can it be a Measure of Movement? Why should the one of the two be the measure rather than the other? Besides an accompanying measure is more plausibly considered as a measure of the particular movement it accompanies than of Movement in general。 Further; this entire discussion assumes continuous movement; since the accompanying principle; Time; is itself unbroken 'but a full explanation implies justification of Time in repose'。 The fact is that we are not to think of a measure outside and apart; but of a combined thing; a measured Movement; and we are to discover what measures it。 Given a Movement measured; are we to suppose the measure to be a magnitude? If so; which of these two would be Time; the measured movement or the measuring magnitude? For Time 'as measure' must be either the movement measured by magnitude; or the measuring magnitude itself or something using the magnitude like a yard…stick to appraise the movement。 In all three cases; as we have indicated; the application is scarcely plausible except where continuous movement is assumed: unless the Movement proceeds smoothly; and even unintermittently and as embracing the entire content of the moving object; great difficulties arise in the identification of Time with any kind of measure。 Let us; then; suppose Time to be this 〃measured Movement;〃 measured by quantity。 Now the Movement if it is to be measured requires a measure outside itself; this was the only reason for raising the question of the accompanying measure。 In exactly the same way the measuring magnitude; in turn; will require a measure; because only when the standard shows such and such an extension can the degree of movement be appraised。 Time then will be; not the magnitude accompanying the Movement; but that numerical value by which the magnitude accompanying the Movement is estimated。 But that number can be only the abstract figure which represents the magnitude; and it is difficult to see how an abstract figure can perform the act of measuring。 And; supposing that we discover a way in which it can; we still have not Time; the measure; but a particular quantity of Time; not at all the same thing: Time means something very different from any definite period: before all question as to quantity is the question as to the thing of which a certain quantity is present。 Time; we are told; is the number outside Movement and measuring it; like the tens applied to the reckoning of the horses and cows but not inherent in them: we are not told what this Number is; yet; applied or not; it must; like that decade; have some nature of its own。 Or 〃it is that which accompanies a Movement and measures it by its successive stages〃; but we are still left asking what this thing recording the stages may be。 In any case; once a thing… whether by point or standard or any other means… measures succession; it must measure according to time: this number appraising movement degree by degree must; therefore; if it is to serve as a measure at all; be something dependent upon time and in contact with it: for; either; degree is spatial; merely… the beginning and end of the Stadium; for example… or in the only alternative; it is a pure matter of Time: the succession of early and late is stage of Time; Time ending upon a certain Now or Time beginning from a Now。 Time; therefore; is something other than the mere number measuring Movement; whether Movement in general or any particular tract of Movement。 Further: Why should the mere presence of a number give us Ti
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