Wikipedia appears to confirm my memory of it (“McTaggart argued that the A series was a necessary component of any full theory of time, but that it was also self-contradictory and that our perception of time was, therefore, ultimately an incoherent illusion.”)
It seems like the sentence I quoted indicates that he didn’t consider it a “full theory of time”. I don’t feel like rereading the actual paper, though.
From memory, McTaggart argues that change is a necessary part of our concept of time. That B-theories can’t account for change and that A-theories are incoherent. Consequently, time does not exist (but presumably something with some similarities to time does)
J. M. E. McTaggart.
And he didn’t mean to name competing theories about time; he was trying to dismiss the both of them.
I think he was just a B-theorist (though he thought the self-contradictory A-theory was an ineliminable part of our thoughts about time).
Wikipedia appears to confirm my memory of it (“McTaggart argued that the A series was a necessary component of any full theory of time, but that it was also self-contradictory and that our perception of time was, therefore, ultimately an incoherent illusion.”)
Does it say he rejected the B-Theory?
It seems like the sentence I quoted indicates that he didn’t consider it a “full theory of time”. I don’t feel like rereading the actual paper, though.
Looking at the paper, I find that you’re right.
From memory, McTaggart argues that change is a necessary part of our concept of time. That B-theories can’t account for change and that A-theories are incoherent. Consequently, time does not exist (but presumably something with some similarities to time does)
Philosophy trivia: “J.M.E. McTaggart” stands for “John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart”.