EigoPro 1級 読解 — The Tense and the Tenseless: Does Time Truly Pass?

Few intuitions feel more incontrovertible than the conviction that time genuinely flows: that the future remorselessly becomes present and then recedes into an irretrievable past. Yet a venerable controversy, inaugurated by J. M. E. McTaggart in 1908, casts doubt on whether this passage is a feature of reality or merely a projection of the mind. McTaggart drew a now-canonical distinction. He distinguished the A-series, which orders events as past, present, and future, from the B-series, which arranges them only as earlier-than or later-than. The latter relations are permanent and tenseless; the former are perpetually in flux, since an event that is future will eventually be present and thereafter past. Proponents of the tensed view contend that the A-series is indispensable. Without an objectively privileged present, they argue, the very notion of change becomes unintelligible, and our experience of anticipation and regret is reduced to an inexplicable illusion. Temporal becoming, on this account, is not a psychological gloss superadded to a static world but the very engine of reality itself, the dynamism without which nothing could happen at all. Their adversaries, the so-called B-theorists, retort that the A-series is incoherent at its core. Every event must possess all three incompatible properties—pastness, presentness, and futurity—and any attempt to dissolve the contradiction by invoking further temporal qualifications merely regenerates it at a higher level, spawning a vicious regress. Worse, modern physics appears to corroborate the tenseless picture: relativity dispenses with any universal, observer-independent 'now', suggesting that the flow we cherish is parochial rather than cosmic, an idiosyncrasy of creatures lodged within time. The stakes transcend academic pedantry. If becoming is illusory, our deepest emotional postures—our dread of mortality, our nostalgia, our relief that an ordeal lies safely behind us—rest upon a metaphysical confusion. The tensed theorist may concede the physics yet insist that a theory mute about the felt passage of time has simply changed the subject. The debate thus exposes a fault line between the manifest image of lived experience and the austere scientific account, a chasm that no amount of conceptual ingenuity has yet managed to bridge.

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この単元の問題を3問、解説つきで公開しています

1級 · 読解 · 全5問

問 1

Which statement best captures the central concern of the passage?

  • It defends the view that human emotions such as nostalgia are biologically rather than philosophically grounded.
  • It traces the historical development of clocks and calendars as instruments for measuring temporal succession.
  • It argues conclusively that modern physics has settled the question by proving that time does not pass at all.
  • It examines a long-standing dispute over whether the apparent flow of time is a genuine feature of reality or a product of the mind.
Phrase

whether this passage is a feature of reality or merely a projection of the mind

1級読解主旨把握論旨
⚡ひとことで

本文の核心は、時間の経過が実在の特徴か心の投影かという論争の検討。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「It examines a long-standing dispute over whether the apparent flow of time is a genuine feature of reality or a product of the mind.」

正解

本文は McTaggart に始まる A系列対B系列の論争を提示し、時間の経過が客観的実在か意識の産物かを問う。"whether this passage is a feature of reality or merely a projection of the mind" がその問いを明示している。両陣営の主張を並置し決着しない断層を指摘して終わる構成である。

  • 「It argues conclusively that modern physics has settled the question by proving that time does not pass at all.」

    = 現代物理が時間の非経過を証明したと結論づける ━ 本文は物理学が緊張理論側に有利とは限らず「決着していない (no amount of conceptual ingenuity has yet managed to bridge)」と明言しており、決着済みとはしていない。。

  • 「It traces the historical development of clocks and calendars as instruments for measuring temporal succession.」

    = 時間測定器具の発達史を辿る ━ 時計や暦の歴史は本文に一切登場せず、論点は形而上学的な時間の本性であって測定技術ではない。。

  • 「It defends the view that human emotions such as nostalgia are biologically rather than philosophically grounded.」

    = ノスタルジア等が生物学的に根ざすと主張 ━ 本文は感情を生物学ではなく形而上学的前提(metaphysical confusion)と結びつけており、生物学的説明を擁護していない。。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
cast doubt on〜に疑念を投げかけるNew evidence casts doubt on the official account.
a venerable controversy由緒ある論争The text revives a venerable controversy in metaphysics.
a projection of the mind心の投影Some claim that colour is merely a projection of the mind.
a feature of reality実在の特徴Is causation a genuine feature of reality?
the central concern中心的関心事The central concern of the essay is human freedom.
❝例文

  • The author casts doubt on the assumption that time flows.

    著者は時間が流れるという前提に疑念を投げかける。

  • The passage frames the question as a venerable controversy.

    本文はその問いを由緒ある論争として枠組みする。

  • Whether colour is real or a projection of the mind remains disputed.

    色彩が実在か心の投影かは依然として議論がある。

  • Becoming may be a feature of reality rather than an illusion.

    生成は錯覚ではなく実在の特徴かもしれない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

主旨設問は「両論を検討し決着を保留する」という本文全体の運動を捉える。一方の結論に断定する選択肢は罠。

問 2

According to McTaggart's distinction, how does the B-series differ from the A-series?

  • The B-series ranks events as past, present, and future, which continually change.
  • The B-series depends on an objectively privileged present moment shared by all observers.
  • The B-series orders events permanently by the tenseless relations of earlier-than and later-than.
  • The B-series denies that events stand in any temporal relations whatsoever.
Phrase

the B-series, which arranges them only as earlier-than or later-than

1級読解詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

B系列はearlier-than / later-than の無時制関係で恒久的に配列する。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「The B-series orders events permanently by the tenseless relations of earlier-than and later-than.」

正解

本文は "the B-series, which arranges them only as earlier-than or later-than" と定義し、その関係は "permanent and tenseless" だと述べる。これに対し A系列の過去・現在・未来は "perpetually in flux" である。よって B系列は無時制で不変という点が A系列との違いである。

  • 「The B-series ranks events as past, present, and future, which continually change.」

    = 過去・現在・未来で常に変化すると説明 ━ 過去・現在・未来の順序づけは A系列の特徴であり、本文では B系列ではなく A系列に帰属させている。。

  • 「The B-series denies that events stand in any temporal relations whatsoever.」

    = 出来事に時間関係が一切ないとする ━ B系列はむしろ earlier-than/later-than という時間関係で配列するものであり、関係を否定するわけではない。。

  • 「The B-series depends on an objectively privileged present moment shared by all observers.」

    = 全観測者に共通する現在に依拠する ━ 特権的な現在(privileged present)は緊張理論=A系列の主張であり、B系列はそれを必要としない。。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
arrange A as BAをBとして配列するHe arranged the files as earlier or later entries.
earlier-than and later-than前か後かの関係Causal order tracks earlier-than and later-than relations.
permanent and tenseless恒久的で無時制のMathematical truths are permanent and tenseless.
in flux流動的なPolitical alliances are perpetually in flux.
order events as出来事を〜として順序づけるWe tend to order events as cause and effect.
❝例文

  • The B

    series fixes events as earlier-than or later-than one another. — B系列は出来事を互いに前後関係で固定する。

  • Tenseless relations do not change as the present advances.

    無時制の関係は現在の進行とともに変化しない。

  • The A

    series, by contrast, is perpetually in flux. — 対照的にA系列は絶えず流動する。

  • Battle of 1066 is earlier

    than the moon landing. — 1066年の戦いは月面着陸より前である。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

B = Before/After（前後）の不変関係、A = Anticipation を含む可変の時制、と頭文字で区別すると混同を防げる。

問 3

What objection do B-theorists raise against the A-series?

  • The A-series wrongly assumes that human beings feel no anticipation or regret.
  • Every event would have to bear the mutually incompatible properties of pastness, presentness, and futurity, generating a vicious regress.
  • The A-series cannot account for the relations of earlier-than and later-than between events.
  • The A-series is the only framework compatible with the predictions of relativity.
Phrase

spawning a vicious regress

1級読解詳細把握
⚡ひとことで

B理論家は、A系列が両立不能な3性質を各事象に課し悪循環の無限後退を生むと反論。

選択肢の解説Choice Analysis

「Every event would have to bear the mutually incompatible properties of pastness, presentness, and futurity, generating a vicious regress.」

正解

本文は B理論家の反論として、各事象が "pastness, presentness, and futurity" という三つの両立不能な性質を持たねばならず、矛盾を解消しようとさらなる時制限定を持ち込むと "spawning a vicious regress" になると述べる。よって A系列は非整合だというのが核心。

  • 「The A-series cannot properly account for the relations of earlier-than and later-than that hold between any two events.」

    = A系列は earlier/later を扱えないとする ━ 前後関係を扱うのは B系列であり、B理論家の反論はそこにはない。本文の反論は性質の矛盾と後退にある。。

  • 「The A-series wrongly assumes that human beings feel no anticipation or regret.」

    = 人は予期も後悔も感じないと前提する誤り ━ 予期や後悔の経験を持ち出すのは A理論家側の論拠であり、B理論家の批判ではない。。

  • 「The A-series is the only framework compatible with the predictions of relativity.」

    = A系列だけが相対論と整合すると主張 ━ 本文は逆に相対論が無時制描像(tenseless picture)を支持するとしており、A系列を有利にはしない。。

▦Collocation
パターン意味例
bear a property性質を帯びるEvery object bears the property of extension.
mutually incompatible相互に両立不能なThe two demands are mutually incompatible.
a vicious regress悪循環の無限後退His justification collapses into a vicious regress.
dissolve the contradiction矛盾を解消するNo qualification can dissolve the contradiction.
regenerate at a higher level上位で再発するThe paradox regenerates at a higher level.
❝例文

  • Each moment seems to bear past, present, and future at once.

    各瞬間は過去・現在・未来を同時に帯びるように見える。

  • Such properties are mutually incompatible.

    そうした性質は相互に両立不能である。

  • The fix merely produces a vicious regress.

    その修正は悪循環の後退を生むだけだ。

  • Adding qualifications cannot dissolve the contradiction.

    限定を加えても矛盾は解消できない。

💡Tip · 覚えるコツ

「無限後退(regress)」が選択肢に出たら、矛盾を解こうとして同じ問題が上位で再発する構造を指す。本文の反論の急所。

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