Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter explores the minority of philosophers arrayed against British idealism, many of whom defended time realism. It also considers how two theories bolstered their position: the specious present and evolution.</jats:p> <jats:p>Section 2 gives an overview of nineteenth-century realisms and other opposition to British idealism during the late nineteenth century. Section 3 introduces ‘specious present’ theories, which hold that our experiential present has duration, including those of Shadworth Hodgson and William James. Section 4 explains that several early realists about time were motivated by evolution, including James McCosh, Henry Sidgwick, Charles B. Upton, and C. Lloyd Morgan. It focuses on the work of two figures who provide exceptionally detailed arguments from evolution to time realism: that of ‘new realist’ Samuel Alexander and ‘humanist’ F. C. S. Schiller. Section 5 concludes with a reflection: despite this burgeoning realism about time, none of its proponents yet questioned the nature of time.</jats:p>