Latoya Brown
HUP 101 Philosophy
Professor Albrecht
December 14, 2009
Final Project The Time Machine
What if it was possible to travel through time, possible to alter decisions made in the past,
possible to fix the wrongs once committed and possible to see a future that has not yet
transpired? The what if in life emulates dreams of what could be and these dreams of
impossibilities are at times simulated through the movies Truths and Realities are tested and
what we think possible and or not possible are questioned. The amazing thing about these forms
of art the “movies” is that despite how far fetch their ideals might be one still finds themselves
asking Philosophical question such as how does the determinist view of cause and effect come
into play and how are the views expressed in the story similar to Heraclitus and Plato and the
many philosophers of past.
The time is 1899 we meet a man named Alexander Hartdegen an eccentric inventor who
doesn’t like to stick to the status quo. Alexander Constantly talks to his friend David Philby who
unlike Alexander would rather do pure research than contribute to a culture in which it is
constantly stated that all men wear identical bowler hats. The bowler hats come into play because
Alexander is looking at the constant similarities and lack of difference between the people. The
story really picks up when Alexander sweet heart Emma is killed while he is proposing.
Alexander begins to work day and night on his time machine and when it is completed 4 years
after Alexander goes back in time only to find out that his fiancé will always die and it doesn’t
matter how many time he would go back in time she would always die so he goes into the future
2030 to find out about time travel only to find out that he has not gone far enough society has not
caught up with his invention ironically they never will. Due to series of events Alexander is
propelled into the year 802,701 at this point society has reverted back to the primitive age after
society went too far and destroyed the moon.
At this point in the story human civilizations has in a sense started over. The survivors
whom are called Eloi, live on the side of cliffs the where Manhattan used to be. When
Alexander Stops his machine he is nursed back to health by a women name Mara one of the few
people of the civilization who speaks english. During the night Alexander has a nightmare where
he see a jagged tooth monster this dreams scares Alexander and he begins to wonder what has
been going on in this civilization. The next day the Eloi are attacked by a mutated race called the
Morlocks they steal Mara after their normal hunt of the Eloi who the Morlocks see as food it is
the idea of the hunters becoming the hunted. Alexander is thrown into frenzy after Mara is
kidnapped and gets brother Kalen to lead him to a machine called Vox 114, Vox lets Alexander
know how to get to the Morlocks.
When Alexander finds the Morlocks he discover the leader of the Morlocks along with
Mara whom the Morlock leader has decided to make his vessel for reproduction. The Morlock
leader finally answers Alexander question why can’t one change the past? he explains that
Alexander cannot alter Emma's fate because her death was what drove him to build the time
machine in the first place. The Idea of Cause and effect arise, a hard determinist view that states
that everything an individual does is predetermined by events in their life. Its becomes ironic to
see that not even time travel can change what should be. Alexander wife died over and over
again because it was Alexander fate to create the time machine, had she not died then there
would have been no need for the machine. Essential what is being said after defying all odds and
traveling through time fate and cause and effect are still in effect, nothing can change what is and
what will be even going through time life is already predetermined and although we may makes
choices that seem to be our own they are simply preplanned events that was dictated by some
unknown force. Our choices are illusions therefore we have no free will.
Philosophers like Sartre would say that we create ourselves through our own decision and
that we should not look out to some unknown force because it is the creation of ourselves that
gives our life meaning. But its apparent in the Time Machine that Alexander had no choice his
wife would die regardless because it was ordained that he needed to create his time machine to
save a race 800,000 years into the future. Can we truly consider ourselves free if events in our
lives lead us to do the things that are already preplanned? There are many ideas and themes that
challenge all philosophical beliefs. The entire idea of time travel can be disputed by philosophers
like Heraclitus who core belief was that one could not step in the same river twice he believed
that everything was in a constant stage of change therefore you could never repeat an event you
could never love the same way twice you could never feel the same love twice it was all constant
change. He would greatly dispute time travel saying that the law of nature made it physically
impossible.
The movie “The Time Machine” is an amazing movie because it explores the, what if?
the possibility of an idea that seems impossible. But it does something more is allows the viewer
to question, can one change the past is it possible to change what was or is fate set up so
amazingly that things truly are set in stone are we so powerless that even if we could create a
time machine there is still no way to change the way that life is suppose to be? It’s amazing to
see that questions leads to more question especially in philosophy I can’t say if we are in control
of our lives. All I believe is that I have to live as if I am in charge of my life because living with
purpose and independence weather real or false allows me to feel a sense of being and it allows
me to want to live day.