Monday, December 15, 2008

Space and Time, Phenomenology Style

Space and time have more to do with our perceptual experience of motion than anything else. Our understanding of space and time come from our perception of motion through space, without motion we couldn't perceive time. Modern science thinks of time and space as being tangible things: the fabric of spacetime. Some scientists believe that time is an illusion: "It seems that a choice has to be made between two irreconcilable notions of time. I argue that the only satisfactory solution is to abolish time altogether. " (Julian Barbour, see: http://www.platonia.com/index.html )

Time, it seems to me, is simply motion perceived; and space is simply that which material objects appear to occupy and move through.

Neither time nor space can be totally divorced from subjective perception, but neither can they be totally divorced from objective motion: they are a synergy of the two (perception and motion). As is everything else in the world. What we really know best is our experience of the world, and of ourselves.


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