The beginning of time was a real point in time: proof!

[Burzum fan]

If time goes back forever, it never would've gotten to the present.

Proof by contradiction: Assume that time had no beginning. Imagine all of time as a countable set of days, and map this set onto the set of all integers. For time to have made it to the present (or any other point in time) would be like counting your way up the set of all negative integers until you got to 0: impossible.

Just as to count numbers requires you to start on a specific number and go from there, time’s progress must have started at a specific point.

P.S. Let's keep this unscientific and purely metaphysical.

[Smaug]

Our "Space" was created during the Big Bang, but we are not so sure about time, even though it is more probable that time was already here, mainly if you are a follower of P-brane and Multiverse theories.

[Edelmann]

That's going to require some elaboration.

[Methmatician]

Time began with the Big Bang.

[Burzum fan]

Our "Space" was created during the Big Bang, but we are not so sure about time, even though it is more probable that time was already here, mainly if you are a follower of P-brane and Multiverse theories.

This isn't a scientific argument, it's purely metaphysical. The point was that it's inconceivable that time had no beginning.

That's going to require some elaboration.

I'll edit the OP.

[Burzum fan]

Time began with the Big Bang.

Maybe, but the let's pretend we live in a world without science. What could even a (smart and curious) man raised by wolves have figured out about time on his own?

Let's do some old school philosophy.

[Burzum fan]

Time began with the Big Bang.

By the way, if you believe that time itself began, where did it come from? Usually atheists seem to think time itself predates the (traceable) universe, which began with the big bang.

[Stefan]

There is the concept of Eternal return, which would fit fine in an infinite temporal universe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return

Your argument is similar to the infinitesimal argument in Calculus, in which you'll never reach an endpoint if you keep cutting the distance moved in half.

Of course, causality would contradict such an infinite series, which I think is a better argument against an infinite temporal universe.

Remember, in Calculus an infinite series can converge finitely.

[Burzum fan]

There is the concept of Eternal return, which would fit fine in an infinite temporal universe.

The problem of infinite regress remains.

Your argument is similar to the infinitesimal argument in Calculus, in which you'll never reach an endpoint if you keep cutting the distance moved in half.

How so?

Of course, causality would contradict such an infinite series, which I think is a better argument against an infinite temporal universe.

Each moment in time is contingent on the previous moment having just passed, so time itself is a chain of cause and effect, even if there are no events.

[Illancha]

You are assuming in your argument that time does in fact exist and is not merely a byproduct of man's perception of the universe.