Physicists and the History of Time

Hawkings' 'History of Time' incorporates Physicist concepts of History and of Time. The limitations of the scope of his project become more evident when it is contrasted with another such History, consisting of the following four stages: 1. Mythological (Time as a god); 2. Platonist (Time as the moving image of Eternity); 3. Newtonian (Time as a container of mechanical phenomena); and, 4. Kantian (Time as a form of Experience). The applicability of Hawkings' account to stages other than #3 is questionable, as is its capacity to represent the scheme's theme--The De-mythologization of Time. Furthermore, like many Physicist treatments of Time, it ignores Kant's challenge to the decidability of any thesis that asserts that Time has a beginning. Indeed, unless it can be proven that the Physicist 'Big Bang' is not preceded by a massive Physicist 'Black Hole' which swallows the entire universe, there can be no certainty that the Big Bang is the beginning of History or of Time, i. e. that upon the destruction of the universe, its reconstruction does not perpetually ensue. Perhaps encouraged by their continuing astounding successes in their proper sphere, Physicists still ignore Kant's warnings when they wander into groundless speculation. Finally, a conscientious 'History of Time' would recognize that either the concept of History presupposes one of Time, or vice versa, and that the presentation itself must exemplify the more fundamental of the two, since, it, too, is a Temporal event in the History of the universe.