Cosmologia e escatologia: uma análise de eventos na interface do tempo e sua negação

Abstract

The aim of this work is to philosophically analyze events that challenge the very concept of temporality, because their occurrence entails the creation or elimination of time itself. Examples are found in the realms of cosmology and Christian eschatology—for instance, the origin of the universe and the death of an individual—events that occur at the boundaries of the first and last instants of a temporal series, respectively. These are events that take place with time, not in time, owing to their radical nature as an irruption or rupture. In cosmology, we have the universe’s emergence according to the standard Big Bang theory, as well as the Kalam Cosmological Argument, which posits a first cause for the universe’s existence based on the impossibility of an infinite temporal regress. This argument presupposes an absolute beginning of the universe, and of time itself, through creation ex nihilo by an atemporal God. In Christian eschatology, we have the Theory of Resurrection at Death, which holds that individual resurrection occurs immediately upon death, since death marks the transition into atemporal eternity. The theory implies the simultaneity of all eschatological events—death, resurrection, and the Final Judgment—from the standpoint of eternity, grounded in the incommensurability between the dimensions of time and eternity. The shared nature of these two singular events in cosmology and eschatology reveals intriguing aspects of the interface between time and its negation, which will be examined.