N. Lawrence – författare

The papers in this volume were delivered and responded to at the Third Conference of the International Society for the Study of Time. The meeting took place during sunny days, punctuated by an occasional brief storm, in the confer­ ence facilities of the Österreichisches College in Alpbach, Austria, from ]uly 1 to ]uly 10, 1976. In the middle of it came ]uly 4, the 200th anniversary of the Declaration ofindependence, and in honor ofparticipants from the United States there was a special session of papers on the subject of Freedom and Time. [See Fraser, Park in this volume. ] The effect of the papers was kaleidoscopic; reading the table of contents one can surmise the experience of those enthusiasts, and there were several, who heard them all. I think that most people who have been puzzled about time will agree that it is not clear wh at the puzzle is or from what direction the insights will come that will enable us to understand the situation a litde more clearly. As one of the participants wrote afterwards, "After all , we do not know apriori whether there exists areal unity in studies about time, but if one exists it must reveal itself progressively in the course of successive experiences such as these lectures. If it were easy to find, it would have been found already without the Society''s help.

The papers in this volume were delivered and responded to at the Third Conference of the International Society for the Study of Time. The meeting took place during sunny days, punctuated by an occasional brief storm, in the confer­ ence facilities of the Österreichisches College in Alpbach, Austria, from ]uly 1 to ]uly 10, 1976. In the middle of it came ]uly 4, the 200th anniversary of the Declaration ofindependence, and in honor ofparticipants from the United States there was a special session of papers on the subject of Freedom and Time. [See Fraser, Park in this volume. ] The effect of the papers was kaleidoscopic; reading the table of contents one can surmise the experience of those enthusiasts, and there were several, who heard them all. I think that most people who have been puzzled about time will agree that it is not clear wh at the puzzle is or from what direction the insights will come that will enable us to understand the situation a litde more clearly. As one of the participants wrote afterwards, "After all , we do not know apriori whether there exists areal unity in studies about time, but if one exists it must reveal itself progressively in the course of successive experiences such as these lectures. If it were easy to find, it would have been found already without the Society's help.

The Second Conference of the International Society for the Study of Time was held at Hotel Mt. Fuji, near Lake Yamanaka, Japan, on July I to 7,1973. The present volume is the proceedings at that Con­ ference and constitutes the second volume in The Study of Time series. * At the closing session of our First Conference in Oberwolfach, Germany, in 1969, I was honored by being elected to the Presidency of the Society, following Dr. J. G. Whitrow, our fIrst President. My mandate was to organize a Second Conference, consistent with the aim of the Society, which is the holding of interdisciplinary conferences for the presentation and discussion of papers on various as­ pects of time. Several participants expressed to me their wish to have a second conference held in Japan so as to emphasize the international and intercultural dedication of this Society. Dr. Fraser carefully evaluated this and many other suggestions, weighed the possible conference sites and our chances of raising the necessary funds to convene a meeting at such sites, and concurred with my conclusions that we should go ahead with the plans for a Japanese meeting. For the difficult and complicated task of raising funds and organizing a conference in Japan, I had to select and rely heavily on somebody both capable and reliable and also living in Japan. Thus, I asked the Reverend Michael Mutsuo Yanase, S. J.