A Matter of Time

Time To Think About It

“Time is the wisest counselor.” Pericles

The concept of time has been evolving over time. This is one of the main reasons why today,  we have a broader understanding of time and can study it from a number of open-minded perspectives.  Intuition and cultural influence, though they have their place in any area of study, must be thought of as secondary to scientific evidence and research.  Putting aside long-held beliefs and rigid predispositions, if only temporarily to examine the unknown is a surefire recipe for generating new ideas and growth in the scientific community.  Though each of us has the ability and responsibility to inquire and evolve independently, it is the philosophers' take on time that prods us to continually look at this concept under new light.

Aristotle's (384-322 BC) keen interest in the relationship between motion and time certify him as being a fair representative of ancient viewpoints on time.  He realized that the motion of two objects could be compared by comparing the amount of time that elapsed while the objects were moving.

He developed theories addressing the world and its constant state of flux and supported his theories using physics and its relationship to time.  Though he theorized about change before he theorized about time, that did not mean that he found time to be dependent on change (that without change, there would be no time). Quite to the contrary, he did not see change as possible without time (so that without time, there would be no change). Time, in the Aristotelian view, was continuous and the number of moments in between moments was infinite.  This is similar to the way it is on a number line: there are an infinite number of points between any two points on a given line. However, this view of time also envisions time to be an entity that is countable or measurable, whereas change does not possess either quality; change is merely seen over time. By attempting to count the number of instants that occur, humans essentially decide how time is going to be split up; it is not inherently in the nature of time to be split into seconds or minutes or years.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) rationalized that anything that existed had to have spatial extension (length, width, and height) but not temporal endurance (it only existed in the present, not the past, nor the future).  Therefore, for us to exist, we had to be divinely recreated on a continuous basis. Time was therefore nothing more than a divine process of re-creation and since it was divine, it was limitless.

He is also credited with a very well known statement in the study of philosophy: "I think, therefore I am".   With that statement, he was proclaiming that the mind was separate from the brain and therefore the body. He rationalized that the mind (which did not have spatial extension) was an extension of the body in space and tried to explain the relationship geometrically via his extended Cartesian plane.

Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) believed that without events, time would not exist.  He believed that time was simply the way things were ordered. On earth, no matter how boring a day may seem or how quiet a place may get, something is always happening somewhere, generally even in the quietest of places, and so the results of absolute nothingness are still unknown. This is a part of the reason that scientists are weary of what might happen if a particle was ever made to reach absolute zero, or zero degrees Kelvin, because is it at that point that all movement would stop and consequently, so might time.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) simply found human comprehension of time itself to be impossible.  He felt however, that even though we could not define time, we could experience things in time.  We would view time the way our mind envisioned it sliced into past, present, and future, thereby establishing what is simultaneous and what takes “a long time.” To him, there was no beginning to time nor could time ever end.

These famous philosophers are but a few in a long list of those who have hypothesized about the true nature of time. Many others have offered unique insights into the nature of time. Some theorize that we do not really exist.  Others hypothesize that we have existed forever and always will. As with any subject matter, some theories have more support than others, and all of them have been modified and extended over the years. Our incessant and often fascinating attempts to study and address the issue of time is an indication of its importance to the world today and to future generations.  Without time, there would be no seasons, no years, no hope of change, and perhaps, no existence at all.

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