The growing block view of time holds that the past and present are real whilst the future is unreal; as future events become present and real, they are added on to the growing block of reality. Surprisingly, given the recent interest in this view, there is very little literature on its origins. This paper explores those origins, and advances two theses. First, I show that although C. D. Broad’s (1923) Scientific Thought provides the first defence of the growing block theory, the theory receives its first articulation in Samuel Alexander’s (1920) Space, Time, and Deity. Further, Alexander’s account of deity inclines towards the growing block view. Second, I argue that Broad shifted towards the growing block theory as a result of his newfound conviction that time has a direction. By way of tying these theses together, I argue that Broad’s views on the direction of time – and possibly even his growing block theory – are sourced in Alexander.

中文翻译：

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CD Broad 时间增长块理论的根源

越来越多的时间观念认为过去和现在是真实的，而未来是不真实的；随着未来事件变得现实和真实，它们被添加到不断增长的现实块中。令人惊讶的是，鉴于最近对这种观点的兴趣，关于其起源的文献很少。本文探讨了这些起源，并提出了两个论点。首先，我表明，尽管 CD Broad (1923) 的科学思想为增长块理论提供了第一个辩护，但该理论在塞缪尔·亚历山大 (Samuel Alexander) (1920) 的空间、时间和神性中得到了首次阐述。此外，亚历山大对神的描述倾向于越来越多的块视图。其次，我认为布罗德转向增长块理论是因为他新发现的信念，即时间是有方向的。通过将这些论文联系在一起，