So, I stopped by the McDonald's drive thru again this morning to find out what Scooter had to say. After he handed me my food (yes, the same thing as before), I asked him, "Am I supposed to have a Wonderful Day again?"
He paused, considered the question carefully, and answered, "That's a complex question. The answer depends in part on whether you subscribe to the A-Theory or B-Theory of Time as proposed by John McTaggart in 1908. You see, he suggested that there are two modes by which we can order events. The first mode presents events in a series of temporal positions as being in continual transformation from the future to the present and finally to the past. Statements made concerning these events imply the temporal perspective of the observer. In a sense, the future becomes the present, which in turn becomes the past. This mode is referred to as the A-Theory. A-Theorists deny that the past, present and future are equally real, and maintain that the future is not fixed and determinate like the past.
"B-Theorists view things differently. One can order events according to a different series of temporal positions by way of two-term relations which are asymmetric, irreflexive and transitive: "comes before" (or precedes) and "comes after" (or follows). This view states that the past, present and future are equally real but vary in deliberation and reflection. We remember the past and anticipate the future, but not vice-versa. B-Theorists believe that the fact that we know much less about the future simply reflects an epistemological difference between the future and the past: the future is no less real than the past; we just know less about it. Many B-Theorists are also Four-Dimensionalists. This belief states that objects exist in time as well as in space and, therefore, have temporal as well as spatial parts."
I asked him, "Are you suggesting that my experience of time may be artificially biased by my relative temporal position and, therefore, my observation may not fully encompas the totality of the reality or unreality of time?"
"Some might say that you will always have realized this just now."
"Language breaks down in attempting to describe temporal structures beyond the traditional perceptions of past, present and future, " I admitted. "Can we conceive of concepts beyond our ability to verbalize, or is language an integral part of our cognitive processes, constraining us to think along culturally established patterns?"
Scooter shook his head. "Now you're just confusing the issue with tired arguments about philosophy of language. I'm not talking about the problems of the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, or the relationship between language and reality. I'm talking about a Philosophy of Time!"
Unfortunately, it was at that moment when Scooter's manager, (I think her name was Glugnard), staggered by. "Is you Philosphizin' again?" she screamed. "Is you? Ifn I told you once I done told you a hunnerd times, just say what I done writed down there on that there card."
Scooter looked at me, sighed and said, "Duh. Here food. Go bye-bye."
I drove away with mixed feelings. On one hand, I felt sorry for Scooter. I can empathize with him. On the other hand, I now know the answer to the question, "What can you do with a Philosophy degree?"
I think I will always have had a Wonderful Day.