THE NATURE OF TIME AS A PUZZLE FOR NATURALISM

Time can only be understood within physics as a special dimension of a four-dimensional reality given “all at once” in its totality. There seems to be no way that a special moment (“now”) can be distinguished. Within human experience, however, the feel of time is vivid: now is intensely present, and time flows from one now to another. This dramatic difference, between the realm of personal experience and the realm of material existence, raises doubt about the unity of the concept of nature and thus about the attraction of naturalism. Following the thought of Abraham Joshua Heschel, I explore whether a solely physical universe can serve as an appropriate whole of an existence that also includes persons. Heschel argues that the whole of existence needs to have a personal character as well, in other words God.