The A-Series vs B-Series Theories Of Time Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

 Davies & Gribbin (1992: 129-30):

Philosophers have long debated the thorny issue of whether the present moment is objectively real, or just a psychological invention. Those, such as Hans Riechenbach and G. J. Whitrow, who have argued for the reality of the present are known as 'A-theorists', while their opponents, among whom are some distinguished figures such as A. J. Ayer, J. J. C. Smart are called 'B-theorists'.

The terminology A and B reflects the existence of two quite distinct modes of speech. The first, the so-called A-series, uses the concepts of past, present and future, and the rich vocabulary of tenses that permeates human language. 

The second system of discussing temporal sequences, the B-series, uses a system of dates. Events are labelled by the date on which they happen: Columbus sets sail, 1492; first man on the Moon, 1969. This serves to place events in order unambiguously, and is the system that physicists use. The dates are simply coordinates, exactly analogous to the use of latitude and longitude for defining spatial positions on the surface of the Earth, and as far as the physicist is concerned that is all that is needed to give a complete account of the world.

B-theorists argue that these two schemes of discussing the same set of events cannot be compatible. Because the present moment is always moving ahead in time, events which start out being in the future sooner or later become the present, and then the past. But a single event cannot be labelled by all three descriptions — it cannot be in the past, the present and the future.

 

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the A-series theorists take the tense system of the verbal group as the basis of a model of time, whereas the B-series theorists, as they are presented here, take the circumstantiation system of the clause as the basis for a model of time.

Actually, what the A-series theorists assert is that the present is somehow 'metaphysically privileged' over the past and future, and the B-series theorists deny this. From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the 'metaphysical privilege' of the present is simply the fact that it alone is the time of making meaning (sensing or saying).

Importantly, the present is a reference point on the dimension of time, and so it is this reference point that varies in its location along the time dimension. The mistaken notion of a 'flow' of time, which the A-series theorists insist upon, derives from not recognising the present as a reference point on the time axis.

Once the present is understood as a reference point, the two schemes, the A-series and the B-series, can indeed be seen as compatible, since the same set of events can be labelled as past, present or future, depending on their location in time relative to a reference point.