Adopting the usual for contemporary philosophy conceptual framework, we can interpret Plato’s ideas on time both as A-theory and B-theory. On the one hand, Plato makes a fundamental distinction between the three dimensions of time and writes about the special status of the present. Obviously, the A-property “to be present” is different from “to be past” and “to be future.” Besides, fluidity is an inherent property of time that determines the difference between the ideal and the corporeal. Plato describes the creation of time itself as an act independent of the creation of the objects. Thus, time cannot be understood as a particular function of the world objects, but it qualitatively differs from all that filling it, a kind of ‘container’ or ‘grid.’ Considering the above, Plato can be called the ancestor of temporal absolutism, with the prerequisites characteristic of A-theory. It is not surprising that such a position is called in the literature Platonism with Respect to Time.
     On the other hand, in the broader context of Plato’s philosophy, one can say about the unreality of time. Temporality is a property of the world of becoming, and, therefore, is not something “objective,” as well as it cannot be cognized. In this case, the creation of time itself could be considered not as an independent stage in the creation of the world, but as an allegorical description of the construction of the celestial clock. The clock, closely related to the world of ideas, allows us to establish permanent temporal relationships, i.e., B-relations, ‘before/after’ in a constantly changing world, thus bringing relative stability and regularity into the world of becoming. Following this reading, Plato, developing Parmenides’ intuition about the illusiveness of time, for the first time develops the conception of time in a manner of B-theory.
     Indeed, we can interpret Plato’s ideas regardless of the limitations of contemporary philosophy and understood it in its own intellectual and conceptual horizon. Nevertheless, an appeal to current discussions plays an important methodological role, since allow achieving greater analytical clarity and easily orienting in research objectives and possible interpretation strategies. In addition to this methodological significance, keeping in mind up-to-date problems of the philosophy of time allows to include Plato in the actual philosophical discussion. I believe that Plato’s philosophy can give impetus to rethink the dominant conceptual framework.
     

Plato, philosophy of time, A- and B-theories of time, physics and metaphysics