The essay discusses the ancient origin of modern ideas of time, which is owed to Plotinus and Augustine. It is these two thinkers who formed the subjective awareness of time followed by the whole modern thoughts. This paper, however, argues that the purpose of discussing time for Plotinus is different from that for Augustine. Plotinus is the first thinker who has talked about the inner awareness of time, and his end is to emancipate the soul from the bondage of the notion of time; Augustine followed Plotinus immediately and imitated his way of speaking, but he asserted that the subjectivity of time would surely result in the reunderstanding of Being, as Time and Being can not be separated. If Plotinus tried to save the classical sphere of ideas by discussing time, then Augustine saw the impossibility, from the Plotinuss discussion, for philosophy, especially Platos philosophy, to save the phenomenon.
石敏敏 章雪富. 论普罗提诺与奥古斯丁的时间观[J]. 浙江工商大学学报, 2014, (4): 46-51.
SHI Minmin ZHANG Xuefu. On the Idea of Time of Plotinus and Augustine. Journal of Zhejing Gongshang University, 2014, (4): 46-51.