Eternity is a unique kind of existence that is supposed to belong
to the most real being or beings. It is an existence that is not
shaken by the common wear and tear of time. Over the two and half
millennia history of Western philosophy we find various conceptions
of eternity, yet one sharp distinction between two notions of
eternity seems to run throughout this long history: eternity as
timeless existence, as opposed to eternity as existence in all
times. Both kinds of existence stand in sharp contrast to the
coming in and out of existence of ordinary beings, like hippos,
humans, and toothbrushes: were these eternally-timeless, for
example, a hippo could not eat, a human could not think or laugh,
and a toothbrush would be of no use. Were a hippo an
eternal-everlasting creature, it would not have to bother itself
with nutrition in order to extend its existence. Everlasting human
beings might appear similar to us, but their mental life and
patterns of behavior would most likely be very different from ours.
The distinction between eternity as timelessness and eternity as
everlastingness goes back to ancient philosophy, to the works of
Plato and Aristotle, and even to the fragments of Parmenides'
philosophical poem. In the twentieth century, it seemed to go out
of favor, though one could consider as eternalists those proponents
of realism in philosophy of mathematics, and those of timeless
propositions in philosophy of language (i.e., propositions that are
said to exist independently of the uttered sentences that convey
their thought-content). However, recent developments in
contemporary physics and its philosophy have provided an impetus to
revive notions of eternity due to the view that time and duration
might have no place in the most fundamental ontology. The
importance of eternity is not limited to strictly philosophical
discussions. It is a notion that also has an important role in
traditional Biblical interpretation. The Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew
name of God considered to be most sacred, is derived from the
Hebrew verb for being, and as a result has been traditionally
interpreted as denoting eternal existence (in either one of the two
senses of eternity). Hence, Calvin translates the Tetragrammaton as
'l'Eternel', and Mendelssohn as 'das ewige Wesen' or 'der Ewige'.
Eternity also plays a central role in contemporary South American
fiction, especially in the works of J.L. Borges. The representation
of eternity poses a major challenge to both literature and arts
(just think about the difficulty of representing eternity in music,
a thoroughly temporal art). The current volume aims at providing a
history of the philosophy of eternity surrounded by a series of
short essays, or reflections, on the role of eternity and its
representation in literature, religion, language, liturgy, science,
and music. Thus, our aim is to provide a history of philosophy as a
discipline that is in constant commerce with various other domains
of human inquisition and exploration.
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