The Measure of Times Past: Pre-Newtonian Chronologies and the Rhetoric of Relative Time / Edition 1

by Donald J. Wilcox

Overview

In this extraordinary work, Donald J. Wilcox seeks to discover an approach to narrative and history consistent with the discontinuous, relative time of the twentieth century. He shows how our B.C./A.D. system, intimately connected to Newtonian concepts of continuous, objective, and absolute time, has affected our conception and experience of the past. He demonstrates absolute time's centrality to modern historical methodologies and the problems it has created in the selection and interpretation of facts. Inspired by contemporary fiction and Einsteinian concepts of relativity, he concludes his analysis with a comparison of our system with earlier, pre-Newtonian time schemes to create a radical new critique of historical objectivity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226897226
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/15/1989
Series:	Pre-Newtonian Chronologies and the Rhetoric of Relative Time
Edition description:	1
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

David J. Wilcox is professor of history at the University of New Hampshire.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. The Rise and Fall of Absolute Time
3. The Relative Time of Herodotus and Thucydides
4. The Time of the Oecumene
5. The Time of the Incarnation
6. The Time of the Renaissance
7. The Dating of Absolute Time
8. Conclusion: The Truths of Relative Time
9. Epilogue
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

First conference of the Technical Committee, Plzen, Czechoslovakia, May 1987. The International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO) is an international federation of 30 national member organizations concerned with the advancement of measurement technology. This meeting dealt with mechanical engineering, measurement science, experimental mechanics. Acidic paper. A paper reprint of Wilcox' (history, U. of New Hampshire) 1987 contemplation of historical chronology. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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