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Encyclopedia of time: science, philosophy, theology, & culture
Encyclopedia of time: science, philosophy, theology, & culture
H. James Birx
''With a strong interdisciplinary approach to a subject that does not lend itself easily to the reference format, this work may not seem to support directly academic programs beyond general research, but it is a more thorough and up-to-date treatment than Taylor and Francis’s 1994 Encyclopedia of Time. Highly recommended.''-Library Journal STARRED ReviewSurveying the major facts, concepts, theories, and speculations that infuse our present comprehension of time, the Encyclopedia of Time: Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture explores the contributions of scientists, philosophers, theologians, and creative artists from ancient times to the present. By drawing together into one collection ideas from scholars around the globe and in a wide range of disciplines, this Encyclopedia will provide readers with a greater understanding of and appreciation for the elusive phenomenon experienced as time.Features * Surveys historical thought about time, including those ideas that emerged in ancient Greece, early Christianity, the Italian Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, and other periods * Covers the original and lasting insights of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, physicist Albert Einstein, philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, and theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin * Discusses the significance of time in the writings of Isaac Asimov, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Fyodor M. Dostoevsky, Francesco Petrarch, H. G. Wells, and numerous other authors * Contains the contributions of naturalists and religionists, including astronomers, cosmologists, physicists, chemists, geologists, paleontologists, anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers, and theologians * Includes artists’ portrayals of the fluidity of time, including painter Salvador Dali’s The Persistence of Memory and The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, and writers Gustave Flaubert’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony and Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis * Provides a truly interdisciplinary approach, with discussions of Aztec, Buddhist, Christian, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Hindu, Islamic, Navajo, and many other cultures’ conceptions of time
Categories:
Education\\Encyclopedia
Year:
2009
Publisher:
Sage
Language:
english
Pages:
1576
ISBN 10:
1412941644
ISBN 13:
978-1-4129-4164-8
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PDF, 51.60 MB
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1-3 Editorial Board Editor H. James Birx Canisius College State University of New York at Geneseo Buffalo Museum of Science Editorial Board Stefan Artmann Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Debra M. Lucas D’Youville College Robert Bollt Honolulu, Hawai‘i Gerald L. Mattingly Johnson Bible College Stephen Brusatte Columbia University American Museum of Natural History Ralph Neuhaeuser Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Jill M. Church D’Youville College John K. Grandy Buffalo, New York John R. Grehan Buffalo Museum of Science Donald R. Perry University of California, Los Angeles Hans Otto Seitschek Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Stefan Lorenz Sorgner University of Erfurt Helmut Hetznecker Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Victor J. Stenger University of Colorado at Boulder University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Dustin B. Hummel University of Aberdeen Mark James Thompson Perth, Western Australia Science, Philosophy, Theology, & Culture H. James Birx Editor Canisius College State University of New York at Geneseo Buffalo Museum of Science 13 Copyright © 2009 by SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information: SAGE Publications, Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 E-Mail: order@sagepub.com SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Far East Square Singapore 048763 Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Encyclopedia of time : science, philosophy, theology, and culture / H. James Birx, editor. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4129-4164-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Time—Encyclopedias. I. Birx, H. James. BD638.E525 2009 115.03—dc22 2008030694 This book is printed on acid-free paper. 09 10 11 12 13 10 Publisher: Assistant to the Publisher: Developmental Editor: Reference Systems Manager: Production Editor: Copy Editors: Typesetter: Proofreaders: Indexer: Cover Designer: Marketing Manager: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Rolf A. Janke Michele Thompson Sanford Robinson Leticia Gutierrez Kate Schroeder Kristin Bergstad, Colleen Brennan, Cate Huisman C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Kristin Bergstad, Kevin Gleason, Penelope Sippel David Luljak Ravi Balasuriya Amberlyn Erzinger Contents Volume 1 List of Entries Reader’s Guide About the Editor Contributors Introduction vii xiii xxiii xxv xxix Entries A B C 1 67 123 D E F 261 357 507 Volume 2 List of Entries Reader’s Guide vii xiii Entries G H I J K 555 619 697 723 735 L M N O P 751 801 899 941 955 Volume 3 List of Entries Reader’s Guide vii xiii Entries Q R S T U 1071 V 1081 W 1123 X 1215 Y 1387 Z Index 1463 1405 1415 1447 1449 1453 O man! Take heed! What says deep midnight’s voice indeed? “I slept my sleep—, “From deepest dream I’ve woke, and plead:— “The world is deep, “And deeper than the day could read. “Deep is its woe—, “Joy—deeper still than grief can be: “Woe says: Hence! Go! “But joys all want eternity—, “—Want deep, deep eternity!” Friedrich Nietzsche Thus Spake Zarathustra The Drunken Song, Section 12 H. James Birx [Trans.] List of Entries Abelard, Peter Adam, Creation of Afterlife Aging Albertus Magnus Alexander, Samuel Alexander the Great Alighieri, Dante Altamira Cave Amnesia Anaximander Anaximines Angels Anselm of Canterbury Anthropic Principle Anthropology Apocalypse Apollodorus of Athens Aquinas, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle Aquinas and Augustine Archaeology Archaeopteryx Aristotle Aristotle and Plato Armageddon Asimov, Isaac Astrolabes Atheism. See Nietzsche, Friedrich Attila the Hun Attosecond and Nanosecond Augustine of Hippo, Saint Aurora Borealis Avicenna Baer, Karl Ernst Ritter von Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich Barth, Karl Baxter, Stephen Becoming and Being Bede the Venerable, Saint Beowulf Bergson, Henri Berkeley, George Bible and Time Big Bang Theory Big Crunch Theory Biodiversity. See Evolution, Organic Biotechnology. See Cybertaxonomy Birth Order Birthrates, Human Black Holes Boethius, Anicius Bohm, David Bonaparte, Napoleon Boscovich, Roger Joseph Boucher de Perthes, Jacques Bradbury, Ray Bruno, Giordano Bruno and Nicholas of Cusa Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Zen Caesar, Gaius Julius Calendar, Astronomical Calendar, Aztec Calendar, Egyptian Calendar, Ethiopian Calendar, Gregorian Calendar, Islamic Calendar, Julian Calendar, Mayan Calendar, Roman Calendars, Asian Calendars, Megalithic Calendars, Tribal Calvin, John Campanella, Tommaso vii Carroll, Lewis Cartan, Élie Joseph Catacombs Catastrophism Causality Chaco Canyon Chambers, Robert Change Charlemagne Chaucer, Geoffrey Chauvet Cave Chemical Reactions Chemistry Chicxulub Crater Chomsky, Noam. See Language Christianity Chronology Chronometry Chronostratigraphy Chronotopes Clarke, Arthur C. Clock, Doomsday Clocks, Atomic Clocks, Biological Clocks, Mechanical Coelacanths Cognition Coins, Ancient Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Columbus, Christopher Comets Comte, Auguste Condorcet, Marquis de. See Enlightenment, Age of Confucianism Consciousness Copernicus, Nicolaus Cosmogony Cosmological Arguments Cosmology, Cyclic viii List of Entries Cosmology, Inflationary Cosmos, Evolving. See Universe, Evolving Creation, Myths of Creationism Creativity Cretaceous Critical Period Hypothesis Critical Reflection and Time Cronus (Kronos) Cryonics Cryptozoology Cusanus. See Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) Cybertaxonomy Dalí, Salvador Daoism. See Taoism (Daoism) Darwin, Charles Darwin and Aristotle Darwin and Nietzsche Dating Techniques Decay, Organic Decay, Radioactive Déjà Vu Deleuze, Gilles Demiurge Democracy Demons. See Devils (Demons) Derrida, Jacques Descartes, René Design, Intelligent Destiny Determinism Devils (Demons) Dialectics Diaries Diderot, Denis Dilthey, Wilhelm Dinosaurs Diseases, Degenerative Divination DNA Dogen Zen Donne, John Dostoevsky, Fyodor M. Doyle, Arthur Conan Dracula, Legend of Dreams Dreamtime, Aboriginal Duns Scotus, John Duration Durkheim, Émile Dying and Death Earth, Age of Earth, Revolution of Earth, Rotation of Easter Island. See Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Ecclesiastes, Book of Eckhart, Meister Eclipses Ecology Economics Education and Time Egypt, Ancient Einstein, Albert Einstein and Newton Eliade, Mircea Eliot, T. S. Elixir of Life Emergence. See Alexander, Samuel Emotions Empedocles End-Time, Beliefs in Engels, Friedrich Enlightenment, Age of Entropy Epistemology Equinoxes Eriugena, Johannes Scotus Erosion Eschatology Eternal Recurrence Eternity Ethics Event, First Evidence of Human Evolution, Interpreting Evil and Time Evolution, Chemical Evolution, Cosmic Evolution, Cultural Evolution, Issues in Evolution, Organic Evolution, Social Existentialism Experiments, Thought Extinction Extinction and Evolution Extinctions, Mass Farber, Marvin Fatalism Father Time Fertility Cycle Feuerbach, Ludwig Fichte, Johann Gottlieb Film and Photography Finitude Flashbacks Flaubert, Gustave Foraminifers Forces, Four Fundamental Fossil Fuels Fossil Record Fossils, Interpretations of Fossils, Living Fossils and Artifacts Frankenstein, Legend of Frege, Gottlob Freud, Sigmund. See Consciousness Futurology Galaxies, Formation of. See Nebular Hypothesis Galilei, Galileo Gamow, George Gehlen, Arnold Genesis, Book of Genghis Khan Geological Column Geologic Timescale Geology Gerontology Gestation Period Gibran, Kahlil Ginkgo Trees Glaciers Globalization Global Warming God, Sensorium of God and Time God as Creator Gödel, Kurt Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Gospels Gosse, Philip Henry List of Entries Grand Canyon Gravity. See Relativity, General Theory of Great Time. See Maha-Kala (Great Time) Greece, Ancient. See Presocratic Age Grim Reaper Guth, Alan. See Cosmology, Inflationary Haeckel, Ernst Hammurabi, Codex of Harris, Marvin Harrison, John Hartshorne, Charles Hawking, Stephen Healing Heartbeat Heat Death, Cosmic Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Kant Heidegger, Martin Heraclitus Herder, Johann Gottfried von Herodotus Hesiod Hibernation Hinduism, Mimamsa-Vedanta Hinduism, Nyaya-Vaisesika Hinduism, Samkhya-Yoga Histories, Alternative History, End of Hitler, Adolf Homer Hominid-Pongid Split Hourglass Humanism Hume, David Husserl, Edmund Hutton, James Huxley, Thomas Henry Ice Ages Idealism Ides of March Immortality, Personal Incubation Industrial Revolution Infinity Information Intuition Islam Jainism Janus Jaspers, Karl Josephus, Flavius Joyce, James Judaism Kabbalah Kafka, Franz Kant, Immanuel Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye Knezevic´, Bozidar Kronos. See Cronus (Kronos) Kropotkin, Peter A. K-T Boundary Kuhn, Thomas S. La Brea Tar Pits Laetoli Footprints Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste de Language Language, Evolution of Languages, Tree of Laplace, Marquis Pierre-Simon de Lascaux Cave Last Judgment Latitude Law Leap Years Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von Lemaître, Georges Édouard Lenin, Vladimir Ilich Leonardo da Vinci. See Fossils, Interpretations of Libraries Life, Origin of Life Cycle Light, Speed of Logical Depth Longevity Longitude Lucretius Luther, Martin Lydgate, John —ix Lyell, Charles Lysenko, Trofim D. Mach, Ernst Machiavelli, Niccolò Magdalenian Bone Calendars Magna Carta Maha-Kala (Great Time) Malthus, Thomas Mann, Thomas Maritain, Jacques Marx, Karl Materialism Maturation Maximus the Confessor, Saint Maxwell’s Demon McTaggart, John M. E. Media and Time Medicine, History of Mellor, David Hugh Memory Merleau-Ponty, Maurice Metamorphosis, Insect Metanarrative Metaphysics Meteors and Meteorites Methuselah Michelangelo Buonarroti Migrations Milton, John Moon, Age of Moon, Phases of Morality More, Saint Thomas Morgan, Lewis Henry Mortality Moses Multiverses Mummies Museums Music Mutations. See DNA Mysticism Mythology Nabokov, Vladimir Nāgārjuna, Acharya Navajo Nebular Hypothesis Neogene x List of Entries Nero, Emperor of Rome Nevsky, Saint Alexander Newton, Isaac Newton and Leibniz Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche and Heraclitus Nirvana Noah Nostradamus Nothingness Novels, Historical Novels, Time in Now, Eternal Nuclear Winter Observatories Old Faithful Olduvai Gorge Omega Point. See Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Omens Ontology Oparin, A. I. Orwell, George Ovid Paleogene Paleontology Paley, William Panbiogeography Pangea Pantheism. See Bruno, Giordano Paracelsus Paradigm Shifts. See Darwin and Aristotle Parmenides of Elea Parousia Peloponnesian War Pendulums Perception Permian Extinction Petrarch, Francesco Philo Judaeus Philoponus and Simplicius Philosopher’s Stone Philosophy, Process. See Whitehead, Alfred North Phi Phenomenon Photography, Time-Lapse Photosynthesis Phylogeny Piaget, Jean Piltdown Man Hoax Planck Time Planetariums Planets Planets, Extrasolar Planets, Motion of Plate Tectonics Plato Plotinus Plutarch Poetry Poincaré, Henri Polo, Marco Pompeii Popper, Karl R. Posthumanism. See Transhumanism Postmodernism Predestination Predeterminism Presocratic Age Prigogine, Ilya Prime Meridian Progress Prophecy Proust, Marcel Psychology and Time Pueblo Pulsars and Quasars Punctuality Pythagoras of Samos Quantum Mechanics Qur’an Rahner, Karl Rameses II Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Rawls, John Redemption Regress, Infinite Reincarnation Relativity, General Theory of Relativity, Special Theory of Religions and Time Renan, Joseph Ernest Revelation, Book of Ricoeur, Paul Rip Van Winkle, Tale of Rites of Passage Rome, Ancient Rosetta Stone Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Russell, Bertrand Sagan, Carl Saltationism and Gradualism Salvation Sandman Sandpainting Sankara, Shri Adi Santayana, George Satan and Time Satellites, Artificial and Natural Scheler, Max Schelling, Friedrich W. J. von Schopenhauer, Arthur Schopenhauer and Kant Science, Progress in. See Medicine, History of Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 Seasons, Change of Sedimentation Senescence Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Shakespeare’s Sonnets Shangri-La, Myth of Shintō Simmel, Georg Sin, Original Singularities Sisyphus, Myth of Sleep Sloterdijk, Peter Smith, William Solipsism Solstice Space Space, Absolute Space and Time Spacetime, Curvature of Spacetime Continuum Space Travel Spencer, Herbert List of Entries Spinoza, Baruch de Spontaneity Stalin, Joseph Star of Bethlehem Stars, Evolution of Statute of Limitations Steno, Nicolaus Sterne, Laurence Stonehenge Stratigraphy Stromatolites Structuralism Sufism Sun, Age of Sundials Sunspots, Cycle of Synchronicity, Geological Synge, John Lighton Tantalus Taoism (Daoism) Taylor, Frederick W. Technology Assessment Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Teleology Teleportation Telescopes Terrorism Thales Thanatochemistry Theodicy Theology, Process Thucydides Tides Tillich, Paul Time, Absolute Time, Arrow of Time, Asymmetry of Time, Cosmic Time, Cyclical Time, Emergence of Time, End of Time, Galactic Time, Historic Time, Illusion of Time, Imaginary Time, Linear Time, Logics of Time, Measurements of Time, Nonexistence of Time, Objective Flux of Time, Observations of Time, Operational Definition of Time, Origin of. See Time, Emergence of Time, Perspectives of Time, Phenomenology of Time, Planetary Time, Prehistoric Time, Problems of Time, Real Time, Relativity of Time, Reversal of Time, Sacred Time, Sidereal Time, Subjective Flow of Time, Symmetry of Time, Teaching Time, Units of Time, Universal Time and Computers Time and Universes Time Capsules Time Dilation and Length Contraction Timelines Time Machine Time Management Timepieces Time Poverty Time-Release Medications Timescales, Physical Timetables Time Travel Time Warps Time Zones Toffler, Alvin Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolstoy, Leo Nikolaevich Totem Poles Transhumanism Transportation Trees Trilobites Twins Paradox Tylor, Edward Burnett Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de Uniformitarianism Universe, Age of Universe, Closed or Open Universe, Contracting or Expanding Universe, End of Universe, Evolving Universe, Origin of Universes, Baby Universes, Multiple. See Multiverses Ur Utopia and Dystopia Values and Time Vampires Verne, Jules Virtual Reality Voodoo Wagner, Richard Wahhābism Watches Watchmaker, God as Weapons Weber, Max Wegener, Alfred Wells, H. G. Werewolves White, Leslie A. Whitehead, Alfred North White Holes William of Conches William of Ockham Wine Witching Hour Woolf, Virginia Worlds, Possible Wormholes Xenophanes Yeats, William Butler Youth, Fountain of Zara Yacob Zeitgeist Zeno of Elea Zodiac Zoroaster Zurvan —xi Reader’s Guide Biography Abelard, Peter Albertus Magnus Alexander the Great Alexander, Samuel Alighieri, Dante Anaximander Anaximines Anselm of Canterbury Apollodorus of Athens Aquinas, Saint Thomas Aristotle Asimov, Isaac Attila the Hun Augustine of Hippo, Saint Avicenna Baer, Karl Ernst Ritter von Bakhtin, Mikhail Mikhailovich Barth, Karl Baxter, Stephen Bede the Venerable, Saint Bergson, Henri Berkeley, George Boethius, Anicius Bohm, David Bonaparte, Napoleon Boscovich, Roger Joseph Boucher de Perthes, Jacques Bradbury, Ray Bruno, Giordano Caesar, Gaius Julius Calvin, John Campanella, Tommaso Carroll, Lewis Cartan, Élie Joseph Chambers, Robert Charlemagne Chaucer, Geoffrey Clarke, Arthur C. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Columbus, Christopher Comte, Auguste Copernicus, Nicolaus Dali, Salvador Darwin, Charles Deleuze, Gilles Derrida, Jacques Descartes, René Diderot, Denis Dilthey, Wilhelm Donne, John Dostoevsky, Fyodor M. Doyle, Arthur Conan Duns Scotus, John Durkheim, Emile Eckhart, Meister Einstein, Albert Eliade, Mircea Eliot, T. S. Empedocles Engels, Friedrich Eriugena, Johannus Scotus Farber, Marvin Feuerbach, Ludwig Fichte, Johann Gottlieb Flaubert, Gustave Frege, Gottlob Galilei, Galileo Gamow, George Gehlen, Arnold Genghis Khan Gibran, Kahlil Gödel, Kurt Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Gosse, Philip Henry Haeckel, Ernst xiii Harris, Marvin Harrison, John Hartshorne, Charles Hawking, Stephen Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Heidegger, Martin Heraclitus Herder, Johann Gottfried von Herodotus Hesiod Hitler, Adolf Homer Hume, David Husserl, Edmund Hutton, James Huxley, Thomas Henry Jaspers, Karl Josephus, Flavius Joyce, James Kafka, Franz Kant, Immanuel Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye Knezevic´, Bozidar Kropotkin, Peter A. Kuhn, Thomas S. Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste de Laplace, Marquis Pierre-Simon de Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von Lemaître, Georges Édouard Lenin, Vladimir Ilich Lucretius Luther, Martin Lydgate, John Lyell, Charles Lysenko, Trofim D. Mach, Ernst Machiavelli, Niccolò Malthus, Thomas xiv Reader’s Guide Mann, Thomas Maritain, Jacques Marx, Karl Maximus the Confessor, Saint McTaggart, John M. E. Mellor, David Hugh Merleau-Ponty, Maurice Methuselah Michelangelo Buonarroti Milton, John More, Saint Thomas Morgan, Lewis Henry Nabokov, Vladimir Nāgārjuna, Acharya Nero, Emperor of Rome Nevsky, Saint Alexander Newton, Isaac Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) Nietzsche, Friedrich Nostradamus Oparin, A. I. Orwell, George Ovid Paley, William Paracelsus Parmenides of Elea Petrarch, Francesco Philo Judaeus Philoponus and Simplicius Piaget, Jean Plato Plotinus Plutarch Poincaré, Henri Polo, Marco Popper, Karl R. Prigogine, Ilya Proust, Marcel Pythagoras of Samos Rahner, Karl Rameses II Rawls, John Renan, Joseph Ernest Ricoeur, Paul Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Russell, Bertrand Sagan, Carl Santayana, George Scheler, Max Schelling, Friedrich W. J. von Schopenhauer, Arthur Simmel, Georg Sloterdijk, Peter Smith, William Spencer, Herbert Spinoza, Baruch de Stalin, Joseph Steno, Nicolaus Sterne, Laurence Synge, John Lighton Taylor, Frederick W. Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Thales Thucydides Tillich, Paul Toffler, Alvin Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolstoy, Leo Nikolaevich Tylor, Edward Burnett Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de Verne, Jules Wagner, Richard Weber, Max Wegener, Alfred Wells, H. G. White, Leslie A. Whitehead, Alfred North William of Conches William of Ockham Woolf, Virginia Xenophanes Yeats, William Butler Zara Yacob Zeno of Elea Zoroaster Zurvan Biology/Evolution Aging Anaximander Anthropology Archaeology Archaeopteryx Bergson, Henri Birth Order Birthrates, Human Catastrophism Chambers, Robert Change Clocks, Biological Coelacanths Consciousness Creationism Cretaceous Cryonics Cryptozoology Cybertaxonomy Darwin, Charles Darwin and Aristotle Darwin and Nietzsche Dating Techniques Decay, Organic Decay, Radioactive Design, Intelligent Dinosaurs Diseases, Degenerative DNA Duration Dying and Death Ecology Economics Empedocles Enlightenment, Age of Eternal Recurrence Evidence of Human Evolution, Interpreting Evolution, Chemical Evolution, Cosmic Evolution, Cultural Evolution, Issues in Evolution, Organic Evolution, Social Extinction Extinction and Evolution Extinctions, Mass Fertility Cycle Foraminifers Fossil Fuels Fossil Record Fossils, Interpretations of Fossils, Living Fossils and Artifacts Geological Column Geologic Timescale Geology Gerontology Gestation Period Gingko Trees Global Warming Reader’s Guide Haeckel, Ernst Harris, Marvin Healing Heartbeat Hibernation Hominid-Pongid Split Huxley, Thomas Henry Incubation Knezevic´, Bozidar Kropotkin, Peter A. K-T Boundary La Brea Tar Pits Laetoli Footprints Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste de Language, Evolution of Language, Tree of Life, Origin of Life Cycle Longevity Lucretius Malthus, Thomas Maturation Medicine, History of Memory Metamorphosis, Insect Morgan, Lewis Henry Neogene Nietzsche, Friedrich Nuclear Winter Oparin, A. I. Paleogene Paleontology Panbiogeography Permian Extinction Photosynthesis Phylogeny Piltdown Man Hoax Quaternary Renan, Joseph Ernest Saltationism and Gradualism Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 Spencer, Herbert Stars, Evolution of Stromatolites Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Teleology Thales Time, Prehistoric Time-Release Medications Transhumanism Trees Trilobites Tylor, Edward Burnett Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de Uniformitarianism Universe, Evolving White, Leslie A. Xenophanes Culture/History Adam, Creation of Alexander the Great Altamira Cave Anthropology Apocalypse Archaeology Armageddon Astrolabes Attila the Hun Beowulf Bible and Time Bonaparte, Napoleon Boucher de Perthes, Jacques Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Zen Caesar, Gaius Julius Calendar, Aztec Calendar, Egyptian Calendar, Ethiopian Calendar, Gregorian Calendar, Islamic Calendar, Julian Calendar, Mayan Calendar, Roman Calendars, Asian Calendars, Megalithic Calendars, Tribal Catacombs Chaco Canyon Charlemagne Chaucer, Geoffrey Chauvet Cave Christianity Clock, Doomsday Clocks, Mechanical Coins, Ancient Coleridge, Samuel Taylor Columbus, Christopher —xv Confucianism Creation, Myths of Creationism Creativity Cronus (Kronos) Dali, Salvador Democracy Diaries Divination Dracula, Legend of Dreamtime, Aboriginal Ecclesiastes, Book of Ecology Economics Education and Time Egypt, Ancient Eliot, T. S. Elixir of Life End-Time, Beliefs in Enlightenment, Age of Evolution, Cultural Evolution, Social Fatalism Father Time Film and Photography Flaubert, Gustave Fossils and Artifacts Frankenstein, Legend of Futurology Gehlen, George Genesis, Book of Genghis Khan Gibran, Kahlil Global Warming Globalization Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Gospels Grim Reaper Hammurabi, Codex of Harris, Marvin Herodotus Hesiod Hinduism, Mimamsa-Vedanta Hinduism, Nyaya-Vaisesika Hinduism, Samkhya-Yoga Histories, Alternative History, End of Hitler, Adolf Homer Hourglass xvi Reader’s Guide Humanism Ides of March Industrial Revolution Information Islam Jainism Janus Joyce, James Judaism Kabbalah Language Lascaux Cave Law Libraries Longevity Luther, Martin Magdalenian Bone Calendars Magna Carta Mann, Thomas Marx, Karl Materialism Media and Time Medicine, History of Metanarrative Michelangelo Buonarroti Migrations Milton, John Morality Morgan, Lewis Henry Moses Mummies Museums Music Mythology Navajo Nero, Emperor of Rome Nietzsche, Friedrich Noah Nostradamus Novels, Historical Novels, Time in Olduvai Gorge Omens Ovid Peloponnesian War Petrarch, Francesco Philo Judaeus Philosopher’s Stone Photography, Time-Lapse Planetariums Plutarch Poetry Pompeii Postmodernism Presocratic Age Predestination Predeterminism Progress Prophecy Proust, Marcel Pueblo Punctuality Qur’an Rameses II Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Redemption Reincarnation Religions and Time Revelation, Book of Rip Van Winkle, Tale of Rites of Passage Rome, Ancient Rosetta Stone Sandman Sandpainting Satellites, Artificial and Natural Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Shakespeare’s Sonnets Shangri-La, Myth of Shintō Simmel, Georg Sisyphus, Myth of Stalin, Joseph Statute of Limitations Stonehenge Sufism Sundials Taoism (Daoism) Technology Assessment Telescopes Terrorism Time, Historic Time, Measurements of Time, Prehistoric Time, Sacred Time, Teaching Time and Computers Time Capsules Time Machine Time Management Timepieces Time Poverty Totem Poles Transportation Tylor, Edward Burnett Ur Utopia and Dystopia Vampires Verne, Jules Voodoo Wagner, Richard Wahhābism Watches Weapons Wells, H. G. Werewolves White, Leslie A. Wine Witching Hour Woolf, Virginia Youth, Fountain of Zeitgeist Geology/Paleontology Altamira Cave Anthropology Aristotle Archaeology Archaeopteryx Boucher de Perthes, Jacques Calendars, Megalithic Catacombs Catastrophism Chambers, Robert Chauvet Cave Chicxulub Crater Chronostratigraphy Coelacanths Creationism Cretaceous Cryptozoology Cybertaxonomy Darwin, Charles Dating Techniques Decay, Radioactive Reader’s Guide Dinosaurs Earth, Age of Erosion Evidence of Human Evolution, Interpreting Evolution, Issues in Evolution, Organic Extinction Extinction and Evolution Extinctions, Mass Foraminifers Fossil Fuels Fossil Record Fossils, Interpretations of Fossils, Living Fossils and Artifacts Geological Column Geologic Timescale Geology Gingko Trees Glaciers Gosse, Philip Henry Grand Canyon Haeckel, Ernst Hominid-Pongid Split Hutton, James Huxley, Thomas Henry Ice Ages K-T Boundary La Brea Tar Pits Laetoli Footprints Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste de Lascaux Cave Life, Origin of Lyell, Charles Museums Old Faithful Olduvai Gorge Oparin, A. I. Paleogene Paleontology Paley, William Panbiogeography Pangea Permian Extinction Phylogeny Piltdown Man Hoax Plate Tectonics Quaternary Saltationism and Gradualism Scopes “Monkey Trial” of 1925 Sedimentation Smith, William Spencer, Herbert Steno, Nicolaus Stratigraphy Stromatolites Synchronicity, Geological Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Time, Perspectives of Time, Planetary Time, Prehistoric Trilobites Uniformitarianism Wegener, Alfred Xenophanes Philosophy Abelard, Peter Albertus Magnus Alexander, Samuel Anaximander Anaximines Anselm of Canterbury Anthropic Principle Apollodorus of Athens Aquinas, Saint Thomas Aristotle Aristotle and Plato Atheism Augustine of Hippo, Saint Avicenna Bakhtin, Mikhail Becoming and Being Bede the Venerable, Saint Bergson, Henri Berkeley, George Boethius, Anicius Bruno and Cusa Bruno, Giordano Calvin, John Campanella, Tommaso Comte, Auguste Critical Thought and Time Cronus (Kronos) Darwin and Heraclitus Darwin and Nietzsche Deleuze, Gilles Demiurge —xvii Democritus Derrida, Jacques Descartes, René Dialectics Diderot, Denis Dilthey, Wilhelm Dogen Zen Dostoevsky, Fyodor M. Duns Scotus, John Eckhart, Meister Einstein, Albert Einstein and Newton Eliade, Mircea Empedocles End-Time, Beliefs in Engels, Friedrich Enlightenment, Age of Epistemology Eriugena, Johannus Scotus Eternal Recurrence Eternity Ethics Evil and Time Existence Existentialism Experiments, Thought Farber, Marvin Fatalism Feuerbach, Ludwig Fichte, Johann Gottlieb Gehlen, Arnold Gibran, Kahlil Gödel, Kurt Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Gosse, Philip Henry Haeckel, Ernst Hartshorne, Charles Hawking, Stephen Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Kant Heidegger, Martin Heraclitus Herder, Johann Gottfried von Humanism Hume, David Husserl, Edmund Idealism Infinity Intuition Jaspers, Karl xviii Reader’s Guide Kant, Immanuel Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye Knezevic´, Bozidar Kropotkin, Peter A. Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von Lenin, Vladimir Ilich Leucippus Logical Depth Lucretius Mach, Ernst Machiavelli, Niccolò Maxwell’s Demon Marx, Karl Materialism McTaggart, John M. E. Mellor, David Hugh Merleau-Ponty, Maurice Metaphysics Morality More, Saint Thomas Nabokov, Vladimir Newton, Isaac Newton and Leibniz Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche and Heraclitus Nothingness Now, Eternal Ontology Ovid Paley, William Parmenides of Elea Plato Plotinus Poincaré, Henri Postmodernism Presocratic Age Predestination Predeterminism Prigogine, Ilya Progress Rahner, Karl Rawls, John Regress, Infinite Ricoeur, Paul Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Russell, Bertrand Santayana, George Scheler, Max Schelling, Friedrich W. J. von Schopenhauer, Arthur Schopenhauer and Kant Simmel, Georg Sloterdijk, Peter Solipsism Spencer, Herbert Spinoza, Baruch de Structuralism Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Teleology Thales Theodicy Tillich, Paul Time, Cyclical Time, Illusion of Time, Imaginary Time, Logics of Time, Nonexistence of Time, Objective Flux of Time, Observations of Time, Operational Definition of Time, Perspectives of Time, Phenomenology of Time, Problems of Time, Real Time, Relativity of Time, Subjective Flow of Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de Values and Time Virtual Reality Weber, Max Whitehead, Alfred North William of Conches William of Ockham Xenophanes Zeno of Elea Zoroaster Zurvan Physics/Chemistry Astrolabes Attosecond and Nanosecond Aurora Borealis Big Bang Theory Big Crunch Theory Black Holes Bohm, David Calendar, Astronomical Causality Chemical Reactions Chemistry Chronometry Chronology Clocks, Atomic Clocks, Mechanical Comets Copernicus, Nicolaus Cosmogony Cosmological Arguments Cosmology, Cyclic Cosmology, Inflationary Cryonics Dating Techniques Decay, Organic Decay, Radioactive Determinism DNA Dying and Death Earth, Age of Earth, Revolution of Earth, Rotation of Eclipses Einstein, Albert Entropy Equinoxes Eternity Event, First Evolution, Chemical Evolution, Issues in Finitude Forces, Four Fundamental Fossil Fuels Galilei, Galileo Gamow, George Global Warming Hawking, Stephen Heat Death, Cosmic Histories, Alternative Infinity Laplace, Marquis Pierre-Simon de Latitude Leap Years Lemaître, Georges Édouard Life, Origin of Light, Speed of Longitude Mach, Ernst Reader’s Guide Maxwell’s Demon Meteors and Meteorites Moon, Age of Moon, Phases of Multiverses Nebular Hypothesis Newton, Isaac Nuclear Winter Observatories Oparin, A. I. Pendulums Photography, Time-Lapse Photosynthesis Planck Time Planetariums Planets Planets, Extrasolar Planets, Motion of Prime Meridian Pulsars and Quasars Quantum Mechanics Relativity, General Theory of Relativity, Special Theory of Satellites, Artificial and Natural Seasons, Change of Singularities Solstice Space Space, Absolute Space and Time Spacetime Continuum Spacetime Curvature Space Travel Spontaneity Stars, Evolution of Sun, Age of Sunspots, Cycle of Teleportation Telescopes Thanatochemistry Tides Time and Computers Time and Universes Time Dilation and Length Contraction Time, Absolute Time, Arrow of Time, Asymmetry of Time, Cosmic Time, Emergence of Time, End of Time, Galactic Time, Historic Time, Linear Time, Measurements of Time, Planetary Time, Real Time, Relativity of Time, Reversal of Time, Sidereal Time, Symmetry of Time, Teaching Time, Units of Time, Universal Timelines Time Machine Timescales, Physical Timetables Twins Paradox Universe, Age of Universe, Closed or Open Universe, Contracting or Expanding Universe, End of Universe, Evolving Universe, Origin of Universes, Baby White Holes Worlds, Possible Wormholes Psychology/Literature Alighieri, Dante Amnesia Aristotle Asimov, Isaac Augustine of Hippo, Saint Beowulf Bergson, Henri Berkeley, George Bible and Time Bradbury, Ray Carroll, Lewis Chronotopes Clarke, Arthur C. Cognition Coleridge, Samuel Consciousness Creativity Critical Period Hypothesis —xix Critical Reflection and Time Dalí, Salvador Darwin, Charles Déjà Vu Descartes, René Determinism Diaries Donne, John Dostoevsky, Fyodor M. Doyle, Arthur Conan Dreamtime, Aboriginal Dreams Duration Durkheim, Emile Dying and Death Education and Time Eliade, Mircea Eliot, T. S. Emotions End-Time, Beliefs in Epistemology Ethics Existentialism Experiments, Thought Fatalism Flashbacks Flaubert, Gustave Gibran, Kahlil Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Herodotus Hesiod Homer Humanism Hume, David Husserl, Edmund Ides of March Immortality, Personal Information Intuition Jaspers, Karl Joyce, James Kabbalah Kafka, Franz Kant, Immanuel Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye Language Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm von Libraries Logical Depth xx Reader’s Guide Machiavelli, Niccolò Mann, Thomas Memory Merleau-Ponty, Maurice More, Saint Thomas Music Mysticism Mythology Nietzsche, Friedrich Nirvana Nostradamus Nothingness Novels, Historical Novels, Time in Now, Eternal Omens Orwell, George Ovid Perception Petrarch, Francesco Phi Phenomenon Philo Judaeus Plato Plutarch Poetry Predestination Predeterminism Prophecy Proust, Marcel Psychology and Time Punctuality Renan, Joseph Ernest Rip Van Winkle, Tale of Rosetta Stone Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Schopenhauer, Arthur Senescence Shakespeare’s Sonnets Shangri-La, Myth of Sisyphus, Myth of Sleep Solipsism Sterne, Laurence Tantalus Terrorism Time, Illusion of Time, Imaginary Time, Perspectives of Time, Phenomenology of Time, Subjective Flow of Time, Teaching Tolstoy, Leo Nikolaevich Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de Values and Time Verne, Jules Virtual Reality Voodoo Wagner, Richard Wells, H. G. Woolf, Virginia Yeats, William Butler Zeitgeist Religion/Theology Abelard, Peter Adam, Creation of Afterlife Albertus Magnus Alexander, Samuel Alighieri, Dante Angels Anselm of Canterbury Apocalypse Aquinas, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle Aquinas and Augustine Armageddon Augustine of Hippo, Saint Barth, Karl Becoming and Being Bede the Venerable, Saint Bible and Time Bruno and Cusa Bruno, Giordano Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Zen Calvin, John Catacombs Christianity Confucianism Creation, Myths of Creationism Demiurge Design, Intelligent Destiny Devils Divination Dogen, Zen Duns Scotus, John Ecclesiastes, Book of Eckhart, Meister End-Time, Beliefs in Eschatology Ethics Eriugena, Johannus Scotus Evil and Time Existentialism Feuerbach, Ludwig Genesis, Book of God and Time God as Creator God, Sensorium of Gospels Gosse, Philip Henry Hartshorne, Charles Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hinduism, Mimamsa-Vedanta Hinduism, Nyaya-Vaisesika Hinduism, Samkhya-Yoga Humanism Hume, David Idealism Immortality, Personal Islam Jainism Judaism Kabbalah Kant, Immanuel Kierkegaard, Søren Aabye Last Judgment Luther, Martin Maritain, Jacques Marx, Karl Maximus the Confessor, Saint Metaphysics More, Saint Thomas Moses Mysticism Mythology Nicholas of Cusa (Cusanus) Nietzsche, Friedrich Nirvana Noah Ontology Paley, William Parousia Philosophy Predestination Reader’s Guide Predeterminism Prophecy Qur’an Rahner, Karl Redemption Reincarnation Religions and Time Renan, Joseph Ernest Revelation, Book of Salvation Sankara, Shri Adi Satan and Time Shintō Sin, Original Spinoza, Baruch de Star of Bethlehem Sufism Taoism (Daoism) Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Theodicy Theology, Process Tillich, Paul Time, Sacred Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de Voodoo Watchmaker, God as Whitehead, Alfred North Xenophanes Zoroaster Theories/Concepts Anaximander Anaximines Anthropic Principle Apocalypse Aquinas and Aristotle Aquinas and Augustine Aristotle and Plato Becoming and Being Big Bang Theory Big Crunch Theory Black Holes Bruno and Cusa Catastrophism Causality Change Cosmogony Cosmological Arguments Cosmology, Cyclic Cosmology, Inflationary Creation, Myths of Creationism Creativity Critical Reflection and Time Cronus Cryonics Darwin and Aristotle Darwin and Nietzsche Demiurge Democracy Design, Intelligent Destiny Determinism Dialectics Duration Einstein and Newton Empedocles Engels, Friedrich Enlightenment, Age of Entropy Eschatology Eternal Recurrence Eternity Ethics Evolution, Issues in Evolution, Organic Existentialism Experiments, Thought Extinction Extinction and Evolution Extinctions, Mass Fatalism Finitude Fossils, Interpretations of Futurology Globalization God, Sensorium of God and Time God as Creator Hawking and Einstein Heat Death, Cosmic Hegel and Kant Histories, Alternative History, End of Humanism Idealism Immortality, Personal Infinity Kropotkin, Peter A. —xxi Languages, Tree of Last Judgment Latitude Life, Origin of Light, Speed of Logical Depth Longitude Maha-Kala (Great Time) Marx, Karl Materialism Media and Time Metaphysics Morality Motion, Perpetual Multiverses Mysticism Nebular Hypothesis Newton and Leibniz Nietzsche and Heraclitus Nirvana Nothingness Now, Eternal Nuclear Winter Ontology Paleogene Panbiogeography Pangea Parousia Permian Extinction Planck Time Plate Tectonics Postmodernism Presocratic Age Predestination Predeterminism Prime Meridian Progress Punctuality Quantum Mechanics Redemption Regress, Infinite Reincarnation Relativity, General Theory of Relativity, Special Theory of Saltationism and Gradualism Schopenhauer and Kant Singularities Sisyphus, Myth of Solipsism Space, Absolute xxii Reader’s Guide Spacetime, Curvature of Spacetime Continuum Spencer, Herbert Structuralism Teleology Thales Theodicy Time, Absolute Time, Arrow of Time, Cyclical Time, Emergence of Time, End of Time, Linear Time, Nonexistence of Time, Real Time, Relativity of Time, Reversal of Time, Sacred Time, Teaching Time, Units of Time and Computers Time and Universes Timelines Timescales, Physical Timetables Time Zones Transhumanism Uniformitarianism Universe, Closed or Open Universe, Contracting or Expanding Universe, End of Universe, Evolving Universe, Origin of Universes, Baby Utopia and Dystopia Values and Time Virtual Reality Watchmaker, God as White Holes Worlds, Possible Wormholes Xenophanes Youth, Fountain of Zeitgeist About the Editor H. James Birx, Ph.D., D.Sci., is professor of anthropology at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. He received both his M.A. in anthropology and Ph.D. with distinction in philosophy from the State University of New York—University at Buffalo. His writings and lectures in natural science and process philosophy embrace both a cosmic perspective and an evolutionary framework. During the past 40 years, his teaching experience has included biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, forensic anthropology, theories in anthropology, and interpreting evolution. Born in Canandaigua, New York, Birx grew up on a nearby farm and attended public schools in the East Bloomfield Central School District. During these years, he was greatly influenced by motion pictures, which introduced him to prehistoric life forms, ancient civilizations, and the exploration of outer space. Such films as King Kong (1933), Quo Vadis (1951), and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) resulted in his having a lasting interest in paleontology, anthropology, and astronomy. At the State University of New York at Geneseo, Birx was introduced to the academic discipline of anthropology, as well as serious music (particularly opera) and philosophy. His reading of the compelling works of Charles Darwin and the neoDarwinians of the 20th century solidified a lifelong commitment to the factual theory of organic evolution and its far-reaching implications for understanding and appreciating the place our recent species occupies in this dynamic universe. However, he became aware of the crucial distinction between the fact of evolution and those different interpretations of this process that are given in science, philosophy, and theology. At the State University of New York–University at Buffalo, Birx furthered his studies in anthropology, specializing in human craniometry. He was particularly interested in fossil hominids and the great apes. Next, under the guidance of worldrenowned distinguished professor Marvin Farber, Birx completed his doctoral degree in philosophy with a thesis on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. His ongoing focus on evolutionary thought had expanded to include such diverse thinkers as Samuel Alexander, Henri Bergson, Giordano Bruno, Marvin Farber, Ernst Haeckel, Stephen W. Hawking, Ernst Mayr, Friedrich Nietzsche, Herbert Spencer, and Leslie A. White. Extensive worldwide travels have taken Dr. Birx to scientific sites and academic conferences from Australia to Russia. His research interests have taken him to Athens, Ayers Rock (Uluru), Cairo, the Galapagos Islands, Giza, Koobi Fora/ Masai Mara, Machu Picchu, Rarotonga, Rome, Stonehenge, Teotihuacan, Uxmal, and the Wyoming Dinosaur Center (among many other significant locations). Dr. Birx has been a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge and twice at Harvard University. He has also given invited presentations at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Johns Hopkins University, University of Oxford, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, University of Kansas, University of Montana, University of San Francisco, Rockhurst College, University of Auckland, Tacamoa Theological College in Rarotonga, Trinity College in Dublin, University of Zaragoza, Catholic Academy Schwerte in Germany, both the Free University and Humboldt University in Berlin, University of Nis in Serbia, Comenius University in Slovakia, Moscow State University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, and both the Jagiellonian University and the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Krakow. He has also given invited presentations for the New xxiii xxiv About the Editor York Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences in both Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. Dr. Birx has organized conferences at St. Petersburg State University and the State Darwin Museum in Moscow, among others. He has been an invited conference participant in Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, England, Germany, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Slovakia, and Spain. Dr. Birx has published over 400 chapters, articles, introductions and reviews, authored six books, and edited 11 other volumes, receiving awards for both his Theories of Evolution and the five-volume Encyclopedia of Anthropology. His other works include Human Evolution, Interpre ting Evolution: Darwin & Teilhard de Chardin, and the scientific monograph Craniometry of the Orchid Site Ossuary. Recently, in Germany, he was one of the editors for and contributors to Eugenik und die Zukunft, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Naturwissenschaftliche und Theologische Perspektiven Seines Werks, and Wagner und Nietzsche: Kultur-Werk-Wirkung. He is presently editing the two-volume 21st Century Anthropology: A Reference Handbook for Sage Publications. Dr. Birx was the recipient of the 2003 Professional Achievement Award from the State University of New York at Geneseo, where he holds the title distinguished research scholar and where the annual H. James Birx Distinguished Scholar Award has been established. He is also a research associate at the Buffalo Museum of Science and a member of both the scientific board of the Nietzsche-Forum Munich and the international scientific advisory board of the Ethics Center at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany, where he was a visiting professor for several summers. His professional listings include Who’s Who in the World. Birx has been interested in time since childhood, when he first learned about dinosaur fossils and distant stars. This encyclopedia and other present writings reflect an outgrowth of his ongoing interest in science and philosophy. Anticipating a neoEnlightenment, Birx’s own ideas include the will to evolve, dynamic integrity, emerging teleology, Homo futurensis, exoevolution, and cosmic overbeings. H. James Birx, Charles Darwin’s Down House/Museum in Downe, Kent, England. Contributors Reyk Albrecht Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Adam L. Bean Emmanuel School of Religion Laia Alegret University of Zaragoza Clemens Beckstein Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Theodor Alpermann Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Ralf Beuthan Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Charles Anderson Seattle, Washington Timothy Binga Center for Inquiry Roger Andrews University of the West Indies Ignacio Arenillas University of Zaragoza Stefan Artmann Friedrich Schiller University of Jena H. James Birx Canisius College, State University of New York at Geneseo, Buffalo Museum of Science Rebecca M. Blakeley McNeese State University Robert Bollt Honolulu, Hawai‘i José Antonio Arz University of Zaragoza James P. Bonanno University at Buffalo Christian Austin Buffalo, New York Christophe Bouton University of Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3 Beatriz Azanza University of Zaragoza Christopher T. Bacon Millville, New Jersey Vidisha Barua Penn State Altoona Virginia A. Batchelor Medaille College Raymond D. Bradley Simon Fraser University Stephen L. Brusatte American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University Marcus Burkhardt Friedrich Schiller University of Jena xxv Christiane Burmeister Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Karlen Chase Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services Ann Louise Chenhall North Thurston Public School, Olympia, Washington Patricia N. Chrosniak Bradley University Jill M. Church D’Youville College Jacqueline O. Coffee High Point, North Carolina Suzanne Colligan Buffalo & Erie County Public Library, Central Timothy D. Collins Western Illinois University Bill Cooke University of Auckland at Manukau Christopher D. Czaplicki Canisius College Suzanne E. D’Amato Medaille College Irina Deretic University of Belgrade xxvi Contributors Malte C. Ebach Arizona State University John K. Grandy Buffalo, New York Terry W. Eddinger Carolina Evangelical Divinity School John R. Grehan Buffalo Museum of Science Stacey L. Edgar State University of New York at Geneseo Patricia E. Erickson Canisius College Carolyn Evans University at Buffalo Jennifer R. Fields Tulsa, Oklahoma Carlo Filice State University of New York at Geneseo Bryan Finken University of Colorado at Denver Isabelle Flemming Mount Prospect Public Library Yvonne Förster Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Michael Joseph Francisconi University of Montana–Western Marko J. Fuchs Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Catherine M. Mitchell Fuentes Charlotte, North Carolina Betty A. Gard Seattle, Washington Joseph Grossi Canisius College Stephan Günzel University of Potsdam Linda Mohr Iwamoto Chaminade University of Honolulu Andrea Tricia Joseph University of the West Indies Harald Jung Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Matthias S. Hauser Heidelberg, Germany Veronika Junk Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Anja Heilmann Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Verena Kammandel Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Michael Heller Pontifical Academy of Theology, Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Vatican Observatory Derik Arthur Kane University at Buffalo Matthew A. Heselton Johnson Bible College Helmut Hetznecker Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Susan W. Hinze Case Western Reserve University C. A. Hoffman Ventura, California Dustin B. Hummel University of Aberdeen Philippe Huneman University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne J. Lee Kavanau University of California, Los Angeles Peter King Pembroke College, Oxford Joachim Klose Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Dresden Nikolaus J. Knoepffler Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Corrine W. Koepf University at Buffalo Matthias Kossler Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Mark Koval Buffalo, New York Michael F. Gengo University at Buffalo Li-Ching Hung Overseas Chinese Institute of Technology in Taiwan Carol Ellen Kowalik University at Buffalo Jennifer Goul Brock University Pamela Rae Huteson Edmonds, Washington Josef Krob Masaryk University Contributors —xxvii Franziska Kümmerling Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Amanda Kuhnel University at Buffalo Ramdas Lamb University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Luci Maire Latina Fernandes University of Connecticut Oliver W. Lembcke Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Gregory L. Linton Johnson Bible College Gerald L. Mattingly Johnson Bible College Leslie A. Mattingly Johnson City, Tennessee David V. McFarland Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Silvia Ortiz University College London Erin M. O’Toole University of North Texas Jaclyn McKewan D’Youville College Alessandra Padula University of L’Aquila Belete K. Mebratu Medaille College Marián Palenčár University of Matea Bel Daniel J. Michalek Michigan State University Jennifer Papin-Ramcharan University of the West Indies Eustoquio Molina University of Zaragoza Marianne E. Partee Erie Community College, South Campus Karen Long Farmington Public Library, New Mexico James V. Morey University of Cambridge Stefanie Lotz University of Frankfurt Muhammad Aurang Zeb Mughal Islamabad, Pakistan Garrick Loveria Charter School for Applied Technology, Buffalo, New York Sophie Naumann University of Erfurt Debra Lucas D’Youville College Ralph Neuhäuser Friedrich Schiller University of Jena David Alexander Lukaszek University of Alaska Fairbanks Mark Nickens Averett University Edward J. Mahoney Director of Astronomy, Hyatt Maui Martin O’Malley Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Jan Novotný Masaryk University Bethany Peer Johnson Bible College Jared N. Peer Coker Creek, Tennessee Matthias Perkams Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Donald R. Perry University of California, Los Angeles Markus Peuckert Friedrich Schiller University of Jena John C. Nugent Great Lakes Christian College Sebastian Pfotenhauer MIT, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Neil Patrick O’Donnell Canisius College Dawn M. Phillips University of Warwick Sara Marcus City University of New York in Queens Sabine Odparlik Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Jocelyn Phillips University of Guelph Jessica M. Masciello University at Buffalo Carl Olson Allegheny College Christophe Malaterre University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne Dirk Preuss Friedrich Schiller University of Jena xxviii Contributors Robert Ranisch University of Warwick Elisa Ruhl Rapaport Molloy College Elaine M. Reeves Carlson University Olena V. Smyntyna Mechnikov National University Emily Sobel State University of New York at New Paltz Stan Trembach Texas A&M University Ryan J. Trubits Buffalo, New York Fernando Valerio-Holguin Colorado State University Sanford Robinson Pasadena, California Dirk Solies Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz Kyle Walker Los Angeles, California Erin Elizabeth Robinson-Caskie Canisius College Stefan Lorenz Sorgner University of Erfurt Christian Warns Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Debika Saha University of North Bengal Andreas Spahn Ruhr University Bochum Helen Theresa Salmon University of Guelph Anthony J. Springer Belhaven College Laura Sare Texas A&M University Michael Schramm University of Leipzig Patricia Sedor Bryant & Stratton College Eric J. Stenclik Canisius College Victor J. Stenger University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa Florian Weber German National Academic Foundation Wolfgang Weigand Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Patricia West American University Quentin D. Wheeler Arizona State University Hans Otto Seitschek Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Richard A. Stephenson East Carolina University Greg Whitlock Parkland College Linda Cara Katherine Shippert Washington State University Amy L. Strauss D’Youville College Mat T. Wilson Montgomery County Memorial Library System Dennis E. Showers State University of New York at Geneseo Marianne Sydow Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Marc Wittmann University of California, San Diego Michael J. Simonton Northern Kentucky University Mark James Thompson Perth, Western Australia Patrick J. Wojcieson Buffalo, New York Beth Thomsett-Scott University of North Texas Dan Zakay Tel-Aviv University Joyce K. Thornton Texas A&M University Zhiming Zhao State University of New York at Geneseo Christopher Ben Simpson Lincoln Christian College John Sisson University of California, Irvine Cary Stacy Smith Mississippi State University Jacek Tomczyk Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University Introduction What is time? Did it have a beginning? Will it ever end? These are profound questions that have been asked by serious thinkers over the centuries, from early speculations among the ancient Greeks to the startling discoveries in the modern sciences. Both philosophers and theologians have offered dynamic worldviews to accommodate new facts and ideas about time and change. Because of its elusiveness, time still challenges those individuals who strive to understand and appreciate the flux of reality and the pervasive influence of time on all objects and events within it (including our own species). Perspectives on time range from subatomic particles to cosmic evolution. Temporal changes may encompass merely attoseconds or billions of years. Remarkable advances in technology, particularly in telescopes and microscopes, along with rapid improvements in computers, have greatly increased our scientific knowledge of this universe in general and our planet in particular. The history of life on Earth stretches back about 4 billion years, while human culture began less than 3 million years ago. Even so, this expanding cosmos is expected to endure for billions of years into the future. And, no doubt, human views about time will change over the coming centuries if our species survives. This encyclopedia surveys those major facts, concepts, theories, and speculations that infuse our present comprehension of time. Its inclusive orientation recognizes the contributions of not only scientists and philosophers, but also theologians and creative artists from various fields. Especially significant are the temporal frameworks that were offered by Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and Albert Einstein (1879–1955). To grasp the modern awareness and appreciation of time requires that an individual embrace both evolutionary biology and relativity physics. The awesome perspective of cosmic evolution now includes such incredible objects as quasars, pulsars, and black holes. The human mind struggles to glimpse an evolving universe with billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars. When looking beyond our planet into outer space, one actually sees this universe as it existed millions of years ago; as such, one is gazing back into time. Furthermore, when one digs deep into the earth, one is also going back into time: Rocks, fossils, and artifacts are the remains of evolutionary time. Ideas and Perspectives The ancient Greeks pondered time and change. Of special importance was the idea from Heraclitus that this cosmos is endlessly changing, manifesting ongoing cyclical patterns. Later, Plato and Aristotle interpreted this universe in terms of geometry and biology, respectively. A philosophical dispute emerged as to whether reality is a static being in which change is an imperfection or an illusion, or an eternal becoming in which permanence is an illusion. Since antiquity, ingenious attempts have been made to synthesize change and fixity in a worldview that does justice to both. Such attempts are found in the cyclical cosmologies of Eastern philosophies. With the coming of Christianity, religious thinkers attempted to reconcile an eternal and perfect personal God with a temporary and imperfect material universe. Concerning time, different beliefs emerged about the divine creation of this finite cosmos and its ultimate destiny. Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Thomas Aquinas offered subjective and objective views of time, respectively. For both, the origin of this universe was held to be an event that occurred only several thousand years ago. This created cosmos had the xxix xxx Introduction earth at its center and the human being occupying a special place in static nature. The end of time was held to be in the near future. Until the emergence of modern astronomy and physics, earlier believers could never have imagined either the vast age of this universe or the complex history of life forms on our planet. During the Italian Renaissance, the artistic genius Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) reflected on the marine fossils he discovered in rock strata while walking in the Swiss Alps. He reasoned that these fossils were the remains of once-living organisms in the remote past; natural forces had elevated the fossil-rich sedimentary layers of the Mediterranean Sea over thousands of years. In fact, at a time when the common consensus maintained that this universe was created only a few thousand years ago, Leonardo’s dynamic view of earth history held that our planet is at least 200,000 years old. Furthermore, his cosmology held the universe to be eternal, infinite, and filled with other planets. Taking change seriously, Leonardo claimed time to be the evil destroyer of everything. Speculating on the end of the earth, he foresaw a future catastrophic event in which fire would destroy all living things on the planet (including our species). At the end of the Italian Renaissance, the monk Giordano Bruno (1548–1600) challenged the entrenched Aristotelian philosophy and Thomistic theology that dominated Western thought. Using his critical intellect and remarkable imagination, he envisioned an eternal and infinite universe with an endless number of stars and planets. His cosmology also included other inhabited worlds with intelligent beings. Consequently, Bruno’s bold interpretation of this universe paved the way for new ideas about time and change. It may be argued that he ushered in the modern cosmology, which is free from geocentrism, anthropocentrism, and a fixed ceiling of stars. His worldview even anticipated the relativity framework in modern physics. With the Age of Enlightenment, natural philosophers stressed the value of science and reason. Rejecting earlier beliefs and opinions, they emphasized critical thought and open inquiry. For them, history was a progressive process, and scientific advances promised freedom from dogmatism and superstition. These enlightened thinkers established an intellectual atmosphere that was crucial for paving the way for the emergence of the social sciences, including anthropology and psychology. The new social sciences would supplement the established natural sciences. Extolling the value of individuals, the academic stage was now set for exceptional naturalists and philosophers to make substantial contributions to understanding and appreciating both cosmic time and earth history. At the end of the Enlightenment, long before nanotechnology and genetic engineering, the visionary philosopher Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794) foresaw ongoing advances in the natural sciences resulting in future human beings enjoying an indefi nite life span. At the beginning of the 19th century, naturalists began to take the study of rocks, fossils, and artifacts seriously. Their investigations challenged the traditional ideas concerning the age of our earth, the fixity of species, and the recent appearance of the human animal on our planet. Historical geology, comparative paleontology, and prehistoric archaeology became distinct sciences that together offered an incredibly vast temporal framework. Over the decades, the accumulation of empirical evidence clearly demonstrated the enormous age of our earth, the evolution of species over eons of time, and the great antiquity of the human animal. Throughout geologic time, the fossil record even revealed that many past species had become extinct. Nature was no longer perceived as manifesting a divinely preestablished design; the alleged fixed order of our planet was now replaced by pervasive and ongoing change. Earth time was now recorded in the millions of years, and the origin of this universe had occurred in a remote past lost in the immensity of cosmic time. During the recent past, four great thinkers had the luxury of time for reflection: Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Alfred North Whitehead, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Each contributed original and lasting insights into the nature of time in terms of evolution, relativity, or a process worldview grounded in philosophy or theology. The Evolution Framework A major contribution to recognizing the significance of time came with Charles Darwin’s scientific Introduction—xxxi theory of organic evolution. The brilliant naturalist had synthesized facts and concepts from various disciplines (especially geology, paleontology, and biology) into a new interpretation of life on earth in terms of continuous change. The indisputable facts demonstrated the mutability of all species; plant and animal types had evolved over vast periods of time. This paradigm shift from fixity to change turned the Aristotelian/Thomistic worldview upside down. The evolutionary perspective alarmed philosophers and theologians, as well as naturalists; in fact, the rise of natural philosophy challenged natural theology. One could no longer view this planet, life forms, or our species in terms of permanence. Time took on a new meaning and significance for those who replaced the biblical story of creation with the Darwinian theory of evolution. Furthermore, biological evolution opened up new areas for scientific research, particularly concerning the mechanisms of inheritance. With the discovery of the DNA molecule in 1953, genetic information supplemented the fossil record in substantiating the evolutionary history and organic unity of life forms on our planet. However, one must distinguish between the factual theory of organic evolution and those various interpretations of this process that appear in the philosophical literature. Interpretations of evolution range from materialism and vitalism to spiritualism and mysticism. Even so, these dynamic worldviews take both time and change seriously. It is not surprising that some philosophers extended their interest in evolution to include the history of this universe. Herbert Spencer wrote about a cyclical cosmos, Friedrich Nietzsche taught the eternal recurrence of this same universe, and Henri Bergson claimed that time itself is the metaphysical essence of creative evolution. In the 20th century, an inevitable conflict emerged between those biblical fundamentalists who clung to a strict and literal interpretation of Creation as presented in Genesis and the scientific evolutionists who accepted the new temporal framework that is clearly upheld by the empirical evidence in geology, paleontology, and biology, as well as the results from radiometric dating techniques. In fact, this conflict between traditional religion and modern science continues today and shows no sign of ending in the foreseeable future. The Relativity Framework With more sophisticated telescopes and computers, astronomers discovered that our universe has been expanding and evolving over billions of years, with countless galaxies forming and dying over incredible periods of time. Furthermore, some scientists have speculated that there has been sufficient time for organisms, including intelligent beings, to emerge on other worlds elsewhere in this cosmos. On the subatomic level of reality, particles appear and disappear instantaneously; it has even been argued that some subatomic particles may actually travel backwards in time. Obviously, this modern perspective is far removed from the Aristotelian/Thomistic worldview. After the beginning of the 20th century, the genius Albert Einstein presented to the intellectual world his special and general theories of relativity. The physicist challenged the basic ideas of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton by denying that space and time are independent absolutes and, instead, maintaining that they constitute a space-time continuum in a four-dimensional reality (with time being the fourth dimension). Moreover, for Einstein, there is no fixed frame of reference in this universe from which absolute judgments may be made concerning time and motion; his only fixed constant is the speed of light. His new interpretation of this universe had startling ramifications for comprehending the four cosmic forces (especially gravity) and those consequences that result as the velocity of an object approaches the speed of light. With the probability of dark matter, dark energy, and wormholes existing in this universe, our cosmos is far stranger than the ancient thinkers could have imagined and far more complex for human beings to grasp now than it was a mere century ago. In fact, the more scientists explore this universe, the older and larger and more peculiar they find it to be. Dynamic Worldviews With a greater awareness of time came thinkers who speculated on the distant future of our species and this universe. The visions of Joseph Ernest Renan (1823–1892) and Miguel de Unamunoy Jugo (1864–1936) offered an interpretation of xxxii Introduction reality that saw the end of this universe in terms of a distinct cosmic entity analogous to a single human being. However, ongoing advances in astronomy and cosmology revealed an expanding universe with a size far beyond the imagination of most 19th-century thinkers. As such, human- centered worldviews in natural philosophy and process theology were now regarded with suspicion by many scientists. Even so, two impressive attempts were made to give our species an important role in evolving reality. To accommodate relativity physics to a dynamic view of this universe, philosopher Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) offered a process cosmology that emphasized pervasive creativity from epoch to epoch. For him, endless reality is the manifestation of interrelated and ongoing events, with these events forming inorganic, organic, and reflecting societies. The realm of events or actual occasions reflects structures or eternal objects throughout the everlasting advance of this cosmic continuum. Whitehead envisioned no final end or ultimate goal for cosmic time. His worldview is a form of panentheism; both God and nature are involved in the continuous process of creating novelty throughout eternal reality. To accommodate natural theology to cosmic evolution, the Jesuit priest and geopaleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955) interpreted our dynamic universe in such a way as to argue for the uniqueness of both this earth in general and our species in particular. However, his cosmology is actually a planetology. Over vast periods of time, directional evolution (as he saw it) passed from inorganic, through organic, to human stages of development, thereby forming three distinct layers: the geosphere, biosphere, and noosphere, respectively. For Teilhard, the arrow of time is now preparing our earth for the spiritual Omega Point, the planetary end of time for human evolution in the distant future. He believed that a personal God is both the first and the final cause of reality, with evolutionary time unfolding between the beginning and the completion of cosmic existence. It is not surprising that Teilhard was silenced for his acceptance of evolutionary time. His bold ideas, grounded in a scientific framework but mystical orientation, were far removed from natural theology and traditional belief. The Human Factor Following geology and paleontology, the emerging discipline of anthropology embraced the evolutionary framework and extended this theory to account for the origin and history of our own species. The human animal was placed within the primate order, because it shared many obvious biological similarities with the apes and monkeys. As the search for hominid fossils continued during the 20th century, major discoveries were made in the eastern hemisphere. In time, empirical evidence favored Africa as the birthplace of the earliest hominids, and the evolution of our species was seen to have taken place over 2 million years. Today, both fossils and the DNA molecule substantiate the concept of human evolution. Furthermore, accumulating archaeological evidence, ranging from stone implements and burial sites to bone carvings and cave murals, offers an ever-clearer picture of prehistoric sociocultural evolution. Like species, past societies with their cultures have emerged and thrived, only to vanish. Of special interest for modern anthropologists is the origin of symbolic language as articulate speech. Some linguists speculate that the evolution of speech may have had its beginning in the hominids of Africa over 1 million years ago. The evolution of the human brain has given our species a superior intellect with a capacity for reasoning, memory, and creativity. With the coming of civilization, group behavior accelerated cultural evolution. The emergence of consciousness is mirrored in the rapid flowering of material culture. One intriguing area of modern research involves investigating the evolutionary relationship between morality and the brain. If future space travel takes human beings to other planets and even beyond, then our species would still carry within it the genetic information linking it to the apes of today. The engaging motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) depicts evolution from past fossil apes, through our species, to a future starchild. Within its cosmic perspective, this film includes superior beings that exist elsewhere in the universe. If humans ever make contact with such possible creatures, then one wonders what information they would communicate to us about the nature of time beyond our present comprehension of it. Introduction—xxxiii A quintessential example of an artwork that focuses on time is Richard Wagner’s epic tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876), with its changing characters and altering events unfolding within a dynamic cosmology of pervasive symbolism and mythic significance. Other artists have also attempted to portray the fluidity of time. One recalls the ingenious paintings of Salvador Dalí, for example, The Persistence of Memory and The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. Novels focusing on historical eras include Gustave Flaubert’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1874) and Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis (1896). Likewise, major authors have dealt with the stream of consciousness. Such insightful novels include James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922), Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain (1924), and Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past (1913–1927). Yet, despite centuries of human inquiry, time itself still eludes scientists, philosophers, and theologians. We are constantly aware of time. Tides, erosion, lunar phases, solar eclipses, returning comets, recurring seasons, and alternating days and nights illustrate for us that this universe is always changing. The birth, development, and death of organisms are a sobering reminder of the finitude of life forms on our planet. With such awesome and disturbing examples of time and change, it is not surprising that great minds have attempted to grasp the flux of reality. Even measuring time and change to ever-greater degrees of certainty is an ongoing challenge to modern science and technology. *** I first became fascinated with time as a youngster impressed with dinosaurs and stars. In high school, I learned about the theory of evolution that linked these two interests within a cosmic continuum that also includes humankind. Later, university studies introduced me to the academic disciplines of anthropology and philosophy. As years passed, I found it increasingly difficult to comprehend how anyone could doubt the fact of evolution in light of overwhelming empirical evidence, from fossils to genes. Of course, the acceptance of our changing universe requires using a disciplined imagination that is open to the astonishing sweep of cosmic time. It is a humbling moment, indeed, when one first realizes the insignificance of our species against the awesome background of an incomprehensible universe that is utterly indifferent to human existence. Yet, the very fact that one may ponder the age of stars and evolving life forms gives meaning and purpose to our consciousness, no matter how ephemeral it may be. My own extensive travels and academic interests have taken me to numerous sites where the brute reality of objective time expresses itself in no uncertain terms. Relevant experiences have included my discovering Allosaurus in Wyoming, exploring the unique Galapagos Islands, searching for fossil hominids at Koobi Fora, admiring the enigmatic Sphinx of Giza, and visiting the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in the ancient Andes (to name only five). Such glimpses of pervasive change remind us of our own fleeting existence. It is hoped that the Encyclopedia of Time will contribute, to its readers, a greater understanding of and deeper appreciation for the elusive phenomenon experienced as time. Further Readings Alexander, S. (2005). Space, time, and deity. Boston: Adamant Media. Aydon, C. (2002). Charles Darwin. Philadelphia: Running Press. Barbour, J. (1999). The end of time: The next revolution in physics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Barrow, J. D. (2005). The infinite book: A short guide to the boundless, timeless, and endless. New York: Random House/Vintage Books. Bergson, H. (2007). Creative evolution (K. A. Pearson, M. Kolkman, & M. Vaughan, Eds.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (Original work published 1907) Birx, H. J. (1984). Theories of evolution. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas. Birx, H. J. (1991). Interpreting evolution: Darwin & Teilhard de Chardin. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Birx, H. J. (Ed.). (2006). Encyclopedia of anthropology (5 vols.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Blackwell, R. J., & DeLucca, R. (Eds.). (1998). Giordano Bruno: Cause, principle and unity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Condorcet, M. de. (1980). Sketch for a historical picture of the progress of the human mind. New York: Hyperion Press. (Original work published 1795) Darwin, C. (1991). The origin of species by means of natural selection. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. (Original work published 1859) Darwin, C. (1998). The descent of man. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. (Original work published 1871) xxxiv Introduction Davies, P. (1995). About time: Einstein’s unfinished revolution. New York: Simon & Schuster/Touchstone. Diamond, J. (2005). Collapse: How societies choose to fail or survive. New York: Viking Books. Dupré, J. (2003). Darwin’s legacy: What evolution means today. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Einstein, A. (1961). Relativity: The special and the general theory (R. W. Lawson, Trans.). New York: Random House/Three Rivers Press. Eliade, M. (2005). The myth of the eternal return: Cosmos and history. (W. R. Trask, Trans.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Fortey, R. (1999). Life: A natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth. New York: Vintage Books. Gorst, M. (2002). Measuring eternity: The search for the beginning of time. New York: Random House/ Broadway Books. Gott, J. R., III. (2001). Time travel in Einstein’s universe: The physical possibilities of travel through time. New York: Houghton Mifflin/Mariner. Greene, B. (2004). The fabric of the cosmos: Space, time, and the texture of reality. New York: Random House/ Vintage Books. Guthrie, W. K. C. (1968). The Greek philosophers: From Thales to Aristotle. New York: Routledge. Harris, J. (2007). Enhancing evolution: The ethical case for making better people. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Hatab, L. J. (Ed.). (2005). Nietzsche’s life sentence: Coming to terms with eternal recurrence. London: Routledge. Hawking, S. W. (2007). The theory of everything: The origin and fate of the universe. Beverly Hills, CA: Phoenix Books. Hawking, S. W., & Mlodinow, L. (2005). A briefer history of time. New York: Random House/Bantam Books. Heraclitus. (1981). The art and thought of Heraclitus (C. H. Kahn, Ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Original work c. 6th century BCE) Isaacson, W. (2007). Einstein: His life and universe. New York: Simon & Schuster. Kaku, M. (2005). Parallel worlds: A journey through creation, higher dimensions, and the future of the cosmos. New York: Random House/Anchor Books. Kragh, H. (1996). Cosmology and controversy: The historical development of two theories of the universe. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Le Poidevin, R. (2003). Travels in four dimensions: The enigmas of space and time. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Lewis, W. (1993). Time and Western man (P. Edwards, Ed.). Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow Press. (Original work published 1927) Löwith, K. (1997). Nietzsche’s philosophy of the eternal recurrence of the same. Berkeley: University of California Press. Novikov, I. D. (1998). The river of time (V. Kisim, Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Palmer, D. (2005). Earth time: Exploring the deep past from Victorian England to the Grand Canyon. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Pinker, S. (2007). The stuff of thought: Language is a window into human nature. New York: Viking Press. Price, H. (1996). Time’s arrow and Archimedes’ point: New directions for the physics of time. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Primack, J. R., & Abrams, N. E. (2006). The view from the center of the universe: Discovering our extraordinary place in the cosmos. New York: Penguin/Riverhead. Rachels, J. (l999). Created from animals: The moral implications of Darwinism. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Ridderbos, K. (Ed.). (2002). Time. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Sawyer, G. J., & Deak, V. (2007). The last man: A guide to twenty-two species of extinct humans. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Singh, S. (2004). Big bang: The origin of the universe. New York: HarperPerennial. Smoot, G., & Davidson, K. (2007). Wrinkles in time: Witness to the birth of the universe. New York: HarperPerennial. Sober, E. (2008). Evidence and evolution: The logic behind the science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Stenger, V. J. (2007). God: The failed hypothesis. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Teilhard de Chardin, P. (1975). The phenomenon of man (B. Wall, Trans.). New York: HarperCollins/ HarperPerennial. (Original work published 1955) Vilenkin, A. (2006). Many worlds in one: The search for other universes. New York: Hill and Wang. Watson, J. D., & Berry, C. (2003). DNA: The secret of life. New York: Knopf. Wells, H. G. (1995). The conquest of time. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. (Original work published 1942) Wells, S. (2002). The journey of man: A genetic odyssey. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Whitehead, A. N. (1979). Process and reality. New York: Simon & Schuster/Free Press. (Original work published 1929) Yourgrau, P. (2004). A world without time: The forgotten legacy of Gödel and Einstein. New York: Basic Books. Acknowledgments At Sage Reference, I was particularly fortunate to have the confidence and support of Rolf A. Janke, vice president and publisher. His vision and commitment to this project were essential for its advancement and fulfillment. Likewise, as its development editor, Sanford Robinson gave meticulous attention to the content and relevance of the entries and provided ongoing enthusiasm for this comprehensive and unique work. The excellent preparation of this Encyclopedia of Time would not have been possible without his steadfast interest and exceptional skill. The production of this multidisciplinary encyclopedia benefited substantially from the diligent concern for all details given by production editor Kate Schroeder and copy editors Kristin Bergstad, Colleen Brennan, and Cate Huisman. I am deeply indebted to them for their dedicated and invaluable assistance. Also at Sage, I am very grateful to Ravi Balasuriya for his outstanding artistic contributions. Furthermore, I am especially indebted to Sylvia S. Bigler, whose persistent focus on all facets of preparing the entries for publication was an enormous benefit. This encyclopedia would not have been possible without her professional administrative assistance throughout the whole project. The range and depth of the subjects covered in the Encyclopedia of Time clearly attest to the ongoing interest in and significance of investigating the concept of time from multiple perspectives. It is a heartfelt pleasure for me to acknowledge the contributing authors for their scholarly entries. The following writers were particularly helpful in providing numerous entries or essential contributions for this work: Stefan Artmann, Clemens M. Beckstein, Robert Bollt, James Pleger Bonanno, Patricia N. Chrosniak, Jill M. Church, Suzanne E. D’Amato, Terry Wayne Eddinger, Michael Joseph Francisconi, Betty Anne Gard, John K. Grandy, John R. Grehan, Helmut Hetznecker, Pamela Rae Huteson, Debra M. Lucas, David Alexander Lukaszek, Gerald L. Mattingly, James V. Morey, Ralph Neuhaeuser, Neil Patrick O’Donnell, Donald R. Perry, Debika Saha, Hans Otto Seitschek, Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, Victor J. Stenger, Mark James Thompson, Jacek Stanislaw Tomczyk, Greg Whitlock, and Patrick J. Wojcieson. Over the years, these individuals have been indispensable in offering encouragement and providing inspiration: Christopher C. Dahl, Linda A. Dinsdale, Marvin Farber, Edward G. Garwol III, Shirley A. Garwol, Debra G. Hill, Claudia A. Hoffman, Albertha F. Kelley, Rose M. Malone, Dianne Marie Murphy, Sophie Annerose Naumann, Joseph F. Rizzo, and the Reverend Edmund G. Ryan. For their ongoing loyalty during the preparation of this three-volume work, I am most appreciative to Sylvia S. Bigler, Pat Bobrowski, David Alexander Lukaszek, and Stefan Lorenz Sorgner. They enlivened the time I spent on this project. xxxv H. James Birx Professor of Anthropology, Canisius College Distinguished Research Scholar, State University of New York at Geneseo Scientific Advisory Board, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Scientific Board, Nietzsche-Forum Munich Research Associate, Buffalo Museum of Science A so on. These time elements are only constructions of the human mind which constitutes the presence of every span of time that is conceived by a human being. In reality, though, there is only one simple, indivisible flux of subsequent, inseparable instants. Consequently, one can speak of a composite time and its parts “according to the imposition of names, not according to the existence of things (secundum nominum appellationem, non secundum rerum essentiam).” The problem of time and eternity plays only a minor role in Abelard’s thought. He states only that time can be regarded as a part of “eternity,” because time, which began to exist together with the Creation, covers only a small stretch of that totality, which can be called the eternity of God’s existence (Abelard’s starting point here is the same quotation of Cicero that his contemporary, William of Conches, uses for his third definition of time). In Abelard’s later works on theology, however, one can find in his linguistic remarks some kind of a via negativa theology of time: Humans are not able to speak directly about God, because human language consists of sentences that contain verbs. Verbs, however, always designate a change, which falls within the realm of time. Thus the human language is absolutely not suited for speaking about God, and consequently theologists have to invent analogies (similitudes) to describe God’s peculiar nature. The problem of time and eternity is also in the background of Abelard’s discussion about the foreknowledge of God and human freedom: To God, every instant of time is present such that he Abelard, Peter (1079–1142) Peter Abelard (Petrus Abaelardus), the most famous intellectual of the 12th century, addresses the problem of time especially in the context of his reevaluation of Aristotelian logic, which he knew from the Categories and De interpretatione. Although in his Dialectica (c. 1117), Abelard still follows the realist approach of many of his contemporaries, in his Logica Ingredientibus (c. 1119) he moves toward an ontologically more parsimonious position. According to him, time has to be understood as “a quantity according to the permanence of which we measure the existence of all things, when we show something to be, to have been or to come into being at a certain existing time (quaedam quantitas [ . . . ] secundum permanentiam cuius rerum quarumcumque dimetimur existentiam, cum monstramus esse aliquid, fuisse vel fore tempore aliquo existente).” Abelard contradicts the suggestion that everything has its own time, while arguing for one single time which is suited to measure everything, including itself. This time pertains to the whole world and can be predicated on every element within it. It is indivisible, insofar as in all the different elements of the world there is one time, as there is one unity in the human body or in the whole world with its different elements. On the other hand, Abelard denies the objective reality of a “composite” time, that is, of time insofar as it consists of successive elements such as hours, days, years, and 1 2 Adam, Creation of knows what will be happening according to human free will, but this does not mean that human freedom does not exist. Abelard’s theory of time represents, in a typical contrast with that of the Platonist William of Conches, one of the first approaches of a philosopher of language to the problem of time, which results in a skeptic stance toward superfluous ontological assumptions. Matthias Perkams See also Eternity; God and Time; God as Creator; Time, Subjective Flow of; William of Conches Further Readings Marenbon, J. (1997). The philosophy of Peter Abelard. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Adam, Creation of Throughout history many explanations have been given about the creation of the human species. The monotheistic Abrahamic traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—believe in the Creation story of Adam. This account is found in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah, which comprises the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (for Christians, the Old Testament). The word genesis in Latin means birth, creation, or beginning. According to the Book of Genesis, God created the entire world in 6 days. On the 6th day he made in his own image Adam, the first man, out of dust from the ground. He was given dominion over all things on earth, both great and small. God then decided that Adam should not be alone, and from his side created Eve, the first woman. God told them to be fruitful and multiply, and all of humankind descends from their union. All of the Abrahamic faiths are proponents of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing). This is the belief that nothing in the universe but God and the heavens existed before the Creation. However, each faith emphasizes different aspects of the story. There are two versions of the Creation story offered in Genesis. This dichotomy seems to stem from the fact that the Books of the Torah are compiled from various ancient stories and not written This detail of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City shows The Creation of Adam, a panel in the massive narrative work by Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti, completed between 1508 and 1512. Source: Getty Images. by one author. The first chapter is known as the “P” or Priestly version and was written in about 715–687 BCE. The second chapter is the “J” or JHWH version, from the Hebrew word for God, written between 922 and 722 BCE. This explains why Genesis 1 and 2 offer two similar but slightly different accounts of the same event and why the language used does not always match up. The J story describes the Creation of man simply. “And Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Gen 2:7, Revised Standard Version). In the P version it is written, “Then God said, Let us make man in our image. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:26–27). The language of this passage has caused debate among scholars and theologians. First, the use of the plural tense when describing the creation implies that more than one man was made. Second, it says “male and female,” implying that men and women were made at the same time. Some believe that man was made to be, like God, a hermaphrodite (God having no gender). Then God decided it was not good for this human to be alone and thus removed a piece of it, leaving two separate parts, male and female. There are Jewish scholars who bring these two stories together by emphasizing the passage in the J version, “Therefore, Afterlife a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). This language suggests that man and woman were once one and need to be together as partners to be whole again. The origin of the name Adam is also a topic of discussion. There are two popular explanations. In the Sybilline Oracles, verses composed from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE, it is said that the name is an acronym for the four directions in Greek: anatole (east), dusis (west), arktos (north), and mesembria (south). A 2nd-century (CE) rabbi put forth the idea that the name comes from the words afer, dam, and marah, Hebrew for dust, blood, and gall. Most branches of Christianity accept the version of Creation in Genesis. There is debate as to whether the text should be taken literally or figuratively. Some Christians join together the ideas of modern science with the biblical account—for example, saying the Creation happened as described but over billions of years, thus supporting geological evidence. However, strict biblical proponents believe Creation actually occurred in six 24-hour days and that the earth is only a few thousand years old. The Christian belief in original sin also derives from this story. Christians believe that at Creation humans were infallible but that through their own weaknesses evil came into the world. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom 5:12). The Islamic tradition states that Adam was created from mud from all over the earth and that is why there is such diversity in humans’ physical appearances. The story in the Qur’an claims that after God made man, he was inanimate for 40 days and then sprang to life. Muslims agree that Adam was given power over all other things. Because God spoke to him directly, he is also considered a prophet of the Muslim faith. Many theologians consider Adam and Eve to be analogies for all people who challenge God. Their story of banishment is a stark warning for people of faith. However, others view them as real people from history. The Book of Genesis contains a genealogy of their descendants, who include historic kings and leaders of the ancient world. Early European Christians interpreted the Bible as being —3 historical fact, and early scientists even calculated the time of their creation to be approximately 4000 BCE. Modern archaeological finds have aged the earth closer to 4.5 billion years and disputed the concept that all things on earth were created at the same time. The classical theory of evolution denies the creation of man directly by God and suggests a slow progression of life from simple one-celled organisms to complex life forms like human beings. The study of genetics suggests that if the population of a species is ever only two, the species would inevitably become extinct. But the Bible’s description of Adam and Eve’s old age at death, nearly 900 years, suggests a way in which two could have created enough offspring to perpetuate the species. Jessica Masciello See also Bible and Time; Christianity; Creationism; Genesis, Book of; Islam; Michelangelo Buonarroti; Time, Sacred Further Readings Filby, F. A. (1964). Creation revealed: A study of Genesis chapter one, in light of modern science. London: Pickering & Inglis. von Franz, L. M. (1995). Creation myths. London: Shambhala. Afterlife Many people believe that some aspect of the self continues to exist after death. Throughout history most religions and philosophies have offered a rationale for, and description of, life after death to encourage adherence to their codes of belief and conduct. Theorists view the relationship between the afterlife and time in various ways. Some view the afterlife as a timeless state of existence after death or after the end of the world. Others view it as a state of never-ending time. Still others view it as the cyclical repetition of incarnation in various forms. Early Egyptian writings describe the king’s ascent to the sky where he becomes a star and is admitted into the company of the gods. Later the promise of 4 Afterlife immortality was extended beyond the Pharaoh and his family to the general population. Some Egyptian writings describe the journey of the dead in the underworld. Those who pass the tests on the journey would arrive at the realms of the blessed, which are located either on earth or in heaven. In contrast to the Egyptians, most people in the ancient Near East (including Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Canaanites, and Israelites) believed that the dead continued to exist in an underworld, which was only a gloomy reflection of their former life. The Hebrew scriptures describe the dead as “shades” (rephaim) who descend to Sheol, a dark and dusty pit located under the earth. Some passages speak of a hope in Yahweh’s help and presence beyond death, but scholars debate whether such passages indicate a belief in either immortality or resurrection. The clearest references to the resurrection of the dead are Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2. Ecclesiastes 3:19–21 suggests the ascent of the righteous dead to heaven. The Zoroastrian texts of Persia describe a bridge that leads over hell to paradise. The righteous pass over successfully, but the wicked fall off the bridge into hell where they suffer eternal darkness and sorrow. The good person passes through three levels of heavens to arrive at paradise (“garden” or “park”), a blissful place free of pain and suffering. Hinduism believes in an endless cycle of death and rebirth (called samsara). Karma, the law of moral cause and effect, determines the future existence of the person. Through the practice of yoga, one can acquire true knowledge that the physical world, including death, is an illusion and thereby obtain Samadhi, the highest level of spiritual perfection. The union of Atman (the essential self) with Brahman (that which is truly real) will result in liberation (moksa) from samsara. Between death and rebirth, people are rewarded in heaven or punished in hell based on the nature of their deeds. In contrast to Hinduism, Buddhism insists that death is an unavoidable fact of human existence that must be accepted. To overcome the desire for exemption from death, one should follow the Eightfold Path in order to achieve anatman (or Anatta), a state of nirvana or “non-self.” Karma determines in which of six realms a person is reborn. Some Buddhists, however, reject the idea of reincarnation. Buddha’s contemporary, Confucius, accepted the reality of death also but was agnostic regarding life after death. However, many Confucianists today believe in the reincarnation of the soul. Early Greek thought reflects the concept of a shadowy underworld called Hades, but increasingly it was supplanted by the concept of astral immortality. Orphism and Pythagoreanism promoted an explicit concept of the immortality of the soul, and Plato (and later, Cicero) developed extensive arguments to defend this view. In contrast, Epicureans believed that the person ceases to exist at death, Aristotle was skeptical of individual immortality, and Stoics disagreed among themselves. The mystery religions offered attainment of astral immortality to all who would submit to their secret rites of initiation. Greeks and Romans generally abhorred the idea that the body would have any role in the afterlife. The Romans believed in the apotheosis (exaltation to divinity after death) of certain emperors such as Julius Caesar, Augustus, and Claudius. Second Temple Judaism, influenced by Persian and Greek thought, developed various conceptions of the afterlife. Some writings teach the immortality of the bodiless soul, but the resurrection of the body became the more popular view. Some writings describe the righteous as transformed into stars or angels. However, they are also said to dwell on a transformed earth. Some Jewish writings divided Sheol into two compartments so that after death the righteous experience the delights of paradise and the wicked suffer the torments of hell. In the 1st century CE, the Sadducees denied any conception of an afterlife, but their views were not widely held. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the body. The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria argued for the preexistence and immortality of the soul. Josephus described the Essenes as believing in the immortality of the soul, but evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls suggests that they actually believed in resurrection of the body. Apocalyptic literature often described the abodes of the blessed and the place of punishment for the condemned. Rabbinic Judaism and modern Judaism have taught an intermediate state and future resurrection of the dead, but some Jews have held more to a Platonic concept of the immortality of the soul. Both Jesus and Paul accepted the Jewish concept of the resurrection of the body. They taught Aging the conscious existence of the disembodied individual between death and resurrection. Later Christians claimed to find warrant in the New Testament for two other views of the intermediate state: soul-sleep and immediate resurrection. Christians believe that after the judgment the redeemed will experience the blessings of a renewed heaven and earth, and the unredeemed will either be annihilated or consigned to a state of eternal torment. Later Christian theologians attempted to integrate the Platonic concept of immortality with belief in the resurrection of the body. Through the centuries, Christian mystics and theologians have attempted to describe the blessings of the afterlife. According to Islam, the dead receive a foretaste of either heaven or hell while they are in the tomb. Martyrs will be admitted immediately to heaven where they receive a special reward. On the last day, the souls of all humankind will arise and be reunited with the body. After being judged according to their deeds, they will spend eternity either in the bliss of heaven or in the torments of hell. Throughout human history, people have claimed to experience visions of the afterlife. These accounts often took the form of tours of heaven or hell. More recently, some have argued for the reality of the afterlife on the basis of the phenomenon of “near-death experiences.” Gregory Linton See also Christianity; Dying and Death; Ecclesiastes, Book of; Eschatology; Eternity; Immortality, Personal; Judaism; Reincarnation; Zoroaster Further Readings Badham, P., & Badham, L. (1987). Death and immortality in the religions of the world. New York: Paragon House. McDannell, C., & Lang, B. (2001). Heaven: A history (2nd ed.). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Segal, A. F. (2004). Life after death: A history of the afterlife in the religions of the West. New York: Doubleday. Aging Aging is a physiological process of change that occurs in organisms over time. Indeed, in all cultures —5 the aging of humans is the primary symbol for time’s passing. This entry focuses on the biological theories of aging and of the way in which the aging process affects human beings. Theories of Aging There are many theories that attempt to explain the cellular and molecular processes involved in aging. Some evidence appears to support the assumption that the aging of a given species is programmed in some way. Monozygotic twins, for example, are much more likely to have nearly the same life span than are dizygotic twins. In laboratory settings, the maximal life span of specimens is often similar. For example, the median life span of a housefly is around 30 days and of a rat approximately 3 years. The maximum human life span is approximately 100 years, although in rare instances, individuals have lived as long as 115 years. In general it is possible to distinguish between systemic and genetic theories of aging. Systemic theories propose that there is a systemic pacemaker for aging. One theory claims that the hypothalamus, a structure in the brain, has the function of a biological hourglass that begins to deteriorate in its hormonal output with the progress of time. This could lead to disorganization in the body’s homeostasis (balance of body functions). A second theory is that the involution of the thymus, an immune system organ responsible for the imprint of T lymphocytes (T cells), leads to lower immunity. This could lead to more malignant processes in the human body. Third, the autoimmune theory explains aging as an autoimmune process. Following this theory the body produces different antibodies against its own structures. These autoantibodies accumulate and lead to organ failures and dysfunctions. Genetic theories are divided between damage and programmed theories. In contrast to systemic theories, they explain aging not by focusing on the organs, which work as an hourglass, but propose that aging happens in every cell of the human organism. Damage theories of aging explain the process of aging by the accumulation of events damaging the genetic code of a cell. Oxygen radicals, which are developed in the metabolism of the cell, are being considered as one of the main mechanisms. Oxygen 6 Aging radicals damage the genetic code. Evidence for the relevance of oxygen radicals is given by the fact that the content of the enzyme superoxide dismutase, which catches free oxygen radicals, is proportional to the life span of different species. Cells of mice (life span 3 years), for example, have a low content of superoxide dismutase, gorillas (life span 55 years) a much higher one, and humans have one of the highest to be found in mammals. Other mechanisms discussed are oxidation, radiation, and glycation. Theories of programmed aging conceive of aging as a process that is in some way programmed in the genetic code. The most famous among these theories is the “length of telomere” theory. Telomeres are repetitive DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes that stabilize the chromosomes. After every cell division, the telomere, which is about 2,000 base pairs long, is shortened by 50 base pairs. When a critical length is reached, the cell cannot divide itself any more and often dies by apoptosis (programmed death of a cell). The telomere can also be elongated by the enzyme telomerase. Cells that express telomerase are factually immortal. In mammals this enzyme can be found only in cells of the germline, in stem cells, and in more than 90% of carcinomas. In Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome (progeria) there is a genetic mutation that leads to faster shortening of the telomeres. People with this syndrome age far more rapidly than other people and die at the age of around 13 of stroke or cardiac infarction. Patients with this syndro