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.