Friday, November [5, |9b3

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Three

Lawrence Examines Three Concepts of lime

By siizie Gelbcr

Nathaniel Lawrence of Williams College opened
the annual Gates Memorial Lecture series at 7:30 pm
last Sunday in Hcrrich chapcl, pledging "incisive and
provocative" subicct treatment. Dealing with ,“Au
Anatomy oi Time: Cons iousness and Time," the phi-
losopher dcdicatcd his lccturcs to Paul Spencer Wood,
latc prolessor or English at Crinnell.

In a comment on the incoherence and ”uncx'dmmed
pet’suppositions” characterizing the usual human coir
ccption oi time, Dr. Lawrence noted that time dcrivcs
mcariiiiclulness only from experience and “thcrcloro,
there is no such thing as acttlal, abstract, empty timc,”

Contradicting the ”presupposition of ‘oue time',"
the lecturer stated that tcniporality is not a single
“current oi passage” hilt two or more; time itself
iiiiictions as an abstraction of temporallty.

“Each component or complement ol consciousness
has its 0\ n individuality, which is intrinsically rev
lational . . . Consciousness prevades the verbal mean-
ing and conception or time," declared the protessor
in examining the concept of “multiple tampornlllies,"

While on the topic or consciousness, 13-. Lawrence
explained that ”in analysis, it is most important to
consider what consciousness rcicrs to, since cone
sciousness is inherently vectoral," Lawrence listed
sell-consciousness, recognition of “its own past; pel‘~
ceptual consciousness. awareness or the perceived
world; and communicative consciousness, awareness of
"other minds” as three mayor components or con—
sciousiiess.

The tact that “there is a dciinite human urge to
be in conscious community with other consciousness"
caused Dr. Lawrence to raise a question as to
whether consciousness is merely "the conilucnce of
the consciousness of external tactors."

Negating determinism, Dr. Lawrence quoted Sartrc
(”existence precedes essence") in discussion of the
question of self-consciousness: Who am I? with a
brief mention of Buddhist doctrine (“as a man's deeds
are, so the man becomes"), Dr. Lawrence included
poetry, love, and psychoanalysis as man's methods
or determining an answer to the question of extstcncc,

By Ann Sllotvllllcr

In "The Shape of Time,“ the second Gates Loco
ture last Monday in Hel‘l‘lck Chapel, Nathaniel Lau-
awrcnce compared Greek, early Chr ~tian and later
Christian views or time as represented in the u rigs
oi Plato, St, Augustine, Newton and several post-
Newtonian philosophers, respectively.

Generally, thc "shape” or Greek time is a circle,
at early Christian time a line, and ol later Chrl ion
a spiral, Lawrence said,

Although the‘sc “shapes" dilter, “all the theories
implicity or lellcily refer to creativity." Lawrence
cmphasiccd.

plato derived his idea oi time trom the circular,
constantly recurring motion or the heavcnly bodies
He believed that when a man died, his soul He
turned to earth later in another torm; thus lite was
cyclical.

Early Christian time is linear Its beginning is
God's creation, its end God's judgment

St. Augustine inocliiied the Creek concept oi time
as concrete and visible, making it abstract and con—
tained within the mind or soul. “Time is what the
individual retains trom the passage oi events . . . , and
creativity may be lound in this arresting ot lune,"
Lawrencc said of Augustine,

Lau-renec called Newton’s concept ot pure and
empty trmc continuously engaged in perpetuating it.
sclt lrom its o n nature “Newton's Miracle,"

“Although this concept is devoid oi content and
inexplicable. crcativity, sclf—cleativlty, is a part of it,"
Lawrence temai'ked,

Ilc pointed out sciontis. who rollorved Newton's
‘idca that only time could create itsclt rverc lorecd
to investigate the causes of things, rejecting the
notion oi spontaneous creativity.

Lilsc Plato. Hegel saw temporal creativity as the
result ol a “objective lite force," but he saw the events
within the pattern as nonrecurrcnt. Lawrence desigv
lnatcs the shape of his time, theretorc, as a spiral.

Lawrence ended his lecture by questioning the
validity of the implications of its title By thinking
of the various concepts of time in terms one may
make temporality too abstract and static.

By Pitula Smith

Naihmllcl Latt'l’cncn, professor 01' philosophy {ix-l
Wlliztms College. discussed "The Stratification of Tine" ,
in his llllal Gales lcclulc, Tuesday. Aflcl the leCLIr
Mr. Lawrentc‘ stated that his purpose has to atta
his philosophical Cncmy. mechanistic determini:

Tiiiic is evident, said Mr Lawrence. only in rela.
tion to conceptual experience, which can be divir i
into three complement consciousness oi in: woi
consciousness of other consciousness, and consent).

no of self. The problem ol timc c nnot lJC cons

cred except in reference to these th cumplcmei

We are, said Mr. Lawrence, aware or ti o
basic tcnrporalities, that of the world, and that o:
our own The diilcrcncc lietucm
thesc temporalitics is in the observabi _- of ther-
pasts. The past oi the world is alu s observable,
while the post of the self is seen only by private
memory. The two temporillitics exist simltltalteo

consciousness.

ly. overlap mid intltl'fusc with each other, and sum:-
timcs coincide.

When time passes in the external world, the in ‘
ridual consciousness li-cquently stops completely, as
in sleep, and the individual
continuity, although in actuality he has expel-lent l

I! break.

conceptually zlssun”.3

In seeking knowledge of the world. men aim at
objectivity and the elimination of consciousness, Ll!
Complete obiECllVlty is impossible lo obtain hecaL e
the beginning point is an abstraction, and because
ullimalcly objective facts must be communicated to
have meaning

In conclusion, Mr. Lawrence made a final contrad:
tion or determinism by pointing out that there
rcal creativity in the world, which I; constantly cceti—
rng a unique “new" ’

 

 

Conference Gains a University}

file Milwaukee Journal: The toc‘The Chicago style debate (167

. . .tal ot Milwaukee»Downer Col-tparts from normal techniques:

“We“i “'8 3m” ”Buy ”MS lege and Lawrence College willlivith satiric presentations or,
a college, we’re gaming a um» be greater on,“ the gum or riseihumorous topics and by expectcl
r

By Jeilrcy Kohlman

versity." This might very we}1‘trvo parts. The creation or Law-,in‘g members ol the audience to
he 9‘. “mm“ 3‘ "ext 3'63” rence University through the participate by hccldlng.
wedding of Milwaukee Downer‘blendmg of facultyt At anytime during the_ de-
cwege t" Lawrence ““959 alumni. administrative porsonfibale, a member of the audience
The new Commed “hm ,‘V‘M nel, trustees, assets and rcputa- may stand up and interrupt a‘
be known,“5 Lawrence Um”?- tions for academic excellence speaker, either by making a,
my of WISCOHS‘n; The ,Wome“ will strengthen and expand the short speech of his owl) or byl
undel‘gradvate school Will how’icducatmmi commitments which talring issue with something that;
avg; relam» ”We name Downer,could not have been undertaken has been said. ‘ l
c° che' _ _, _, , by cithcr oi the institutions actrlt The “‘1‘?“ ‘5 3'301 exPeC‘fd‘
The term university will )n-‘ing separately , o register is approve or stac—
corporate the two undergraduate s a ,ments of hcclrlcrs _by shoutingl
schools in ?d;iv;tl-)n to dthteh Co - The third annual Uni, 1.5Hy‘;§:aol',g-l:‘eal‘." t‘1}in hissing, ror ibyr,
or l
Curtis Tarr, President of Lawn Wlll bring more than 25 foamS, The topic: Should women he

fence, issued this statement lo to (he University of Chicago. allowed In college. TR ND

Sludenis of Orien’ral Drama § - ‘ - . ,
Will Perform Chinese Play Elatgiasllltlliislle 1

Grinnell College will present- Cheng Ten and Peggy Ziegcn.

a Chinese drama entitled ”The, hagcn as Li Fcng. .

Fl“ e of Wine” on NOV- 22 am“ Musicians in the play will be at ”I h h I

23. To be performed by studenisldim Bruce, lini Clapp and Ann) 9 C 00

in ARH auditor-rum next Friar Thogersm Also. members oft

and Satuji-day a} :3 pMma 3.: Orchesis, Pam Draemel, Julie Irving Y Fishman (biology)
hln‘ese ram 0 tie mg Y-lJohnson, Linda Landau, Midce - n , . ,.
nasty has been adapted a‘1d1MCKmley, Robin Partridge, Lcsa‘w’n,be 3 "mm” S“emml
translated by Jossphme Huang lic silver, Ellie Smith and Betsy Tim‘s‘lay 3‘ 9““ L‘U’F C°""““’l
Hung (Vislllng spccch and thearlsppagua. writ perform nity School in LeGrand.

”e P1'05955°“’- Advance reservations [or the

The plny, nroducc'd by MYS- performances will be required.
Huang Hunt's Orienfal Drama lThsy may he obtained with m-
olasst is a light comedy about tivity tickets next Tucsd‘ly,
the social and domestic Me in ,weenesoay and Thursday from
”l6 Ming DynaSty. It is a lid am. to 12 noon and from
great iavorltc hint Chinese ‘2:30 pm. to 4-30 p.m. at the
'audienccst Fine Arts oniec.

Chinese d ma, or “Chinese
Opera” as it is often called, is-
a highly stylized and symbolic}
art torni. Music, dance and sons
:re combined in simple plots,
usually well known to the Chi—
nese audience.

The key to this term oi en—
tertainment is the actor's per-—
formance, and the audience
judges the play by the excel:
lence of his technique Every,

ovemcnt and gesture made byl
the actoi- has symbolic mealling,r

Mcmbcis oi the cast include
Tom Somervillc as Emperorl

.C.T.U;

students.

WAYNE'S can frea'l' U

. . ‘. to lite best steaks in town.

debate tournament

 

TU ES. 8: WED
NOV.

 

 

 

 

As a participant in the pro—l
gram, Fishman will give dcin—
onstr tions, hold informal dlS~
ciissron, speak to science clas s,
and talk to interested students
individually at the high school. i

 

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