Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-kfd97 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-27T14:00:07.873Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Physical Time: The Objective and Relational Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Mario Bunge
Mario Bunge*
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An objective and relational theory of local time is expounded and its philosophical implications are discussed in Sect. 2. In Sect. 3 certain physical and metaphysical questions concerning time are taken up in the light of that theory.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 35 , Issue 4 , December 1968 , pp. 355 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

[1] Aristotle, Physics, many editions. Especially Bk. IV, Ch. 12.Google Scholar
[2] Augustine, , Confessions, many editions. Especially Bk. XI, Chs. XIV–XXVIII.Google Scholar
[3] Bergson, H., Introduction to Metaphysics. Macmillan, London, 1913.Google Scholar
[4] Bergson, H., Time and Free Will, Macmillan, New York, 1910.Google Scholar
[5] Bergson, H., L'évolution créatrice, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1948.Google Scholar
[6] Bridgman, P. W., Reflections of a Physicist, Philosophical Library, New York, 1950.Google Scholar
[7] Bunge, M., “The philosophy of the space-time approach to the quantum theory,” Methodos, vol 7, 1955, p. 295 and Metascientific Queries, Charles C. Thomas, Evanston, Ill., 1959.Google Scholar
[8] Bunge, M., “On multi-dimensional time,” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, vol. 9, 1958, p. 39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[9] Bunge, M., “Are there timeless entities?” Miscelânea de Estudos a Joaquim de Carvalho, vol. 3, Figueira da Foz, 1960.Google Scholar
[10] Bunge, M., “Cosmology and magic,” Monist, vol. 44, 1962, p. 116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11] Bunge, M., Intuition and Science, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1962.Google Scholar
[12] Bunge, M., Causality, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1959; 2nd ed., Meridian Books, 1963.Google Scholar
[13] Bunge, M., The Myth of Simplicity, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[14] Bunge, M., “Mach's critique of Newtonian mechanics,” American Journal of Physics, vol. 34, 1966, p. 585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15] Bunge, M., “Physical axiomatics,” Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 39, 1967, p. 463.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[16] Bunge, M., Scientific Research, 2 vols., Springer-Verlag, New York, 1967.Google Scholar
[17] Bunge, M., Foundations of Physics, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[18] Bunge, M., “Conjunction, succession, determination, and causation,” International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 1. 1968, p. 205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19] Bunge, M., and Kálnay, A. J., “A covariant position operator for the relativistic electron”, to appear.Google Scholar
[20] Carnap, R., Logical Foundations of Probability; University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1950.Google Scholar
[21] Carnap, R., Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Basic Books, New York, 1966.Google Scholar
[22] Christenson, J. H., Cronin, J. W., Fitch, V. L., and Turlay, R., “Evidence for the 2π decay of the K 02 neutral meson.” Physical Review Letters, vol. 13, 1964, p. 138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[23] Clemence, G. M., “Astronomical Time,” Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 29, 1957, p. 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[24] Coleman, B. D., “Thermodynamics of materials with memory,” Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, vol. 17, 1964, p. 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[25] Costa de Beauregard, O., “Deux problèmes en épistémologie du temps de la physique,” Revue Internationale de Philosophie, vol. 16, 1962, p. 358.Google Scholar
[26] Costa de Beauregard, O., La notion de temps. Equivalence avec l'espace, Hermann, Paris, 1963.Google Scholar
[27] Eddington, A. S., The Nature of the Physical World, Macmillan, New York, 1928.Google Scholar
[28] Einstein, A., “Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper,” Annalen der Physik, vol. 17, 1905, p. 891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[29] Gödel, K., “A remark on the relationship between relativity theory and idealistic philosophy,” in Albert Einstein, Philosopher-Scientist (ed. Schilpp, P. A.), The Library of Living Philosophers, Evanston, Ill., 1949.Google Scholar
[30] Gold, T., “The arrow of time,” American Journal of Physics, vol. 30, 1962, p. 403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[31] Gold, T. (ed.), The Nature of Time, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y., 1967.Google Scholar
[32] Gonseth, F., Le problème du temps. Neuchâtel: Ed. du Griffon, 1964.Google Scholar
[33] Goodman, N., The Structure of Appearance, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1951.Google Scholar
[34] Grad, H., “The many faces of entropy,” Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics, vol. 14, 1961, p. 323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[35] Grad, H., “Levels of description in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics,” in Delaware Seminar in the Foundations of Physics (ed. Bunge, M.), Springer-Verlag, New York, 1967.Google Scholar
[36] Grünbaum, A., “The nature of time,” in Frontiers of Science and Philosophy (ed. Colodny, R. G.), University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1962.Google Scholar
[37] Grünbaum, A., Philosophical Problems of Space and Time, A. Knopf, New York, 1963.Google Scholar
[38] Grünbaum, A., “The anisotropy of time,” in T. Gold [31].Google Scholar
[39] James, W., A Pluralistic Universe, Longmans, Green, New York, 1958.Google Scholar
[40] Kant, I., Kritik der reinen Vernunft, many editions. Especially The Transcendental Aesthetic, Sect. II.Google Scholar
[41] Leibniz, G., Third paper, Sect. 6, in The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence (ed. Alexander, H. G.), Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1956.Google Scholar
[42] Lotze, H., Metaphysics, Vol. I, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1887.Google Scholar
[43] Lucretius, , On the Nature of Things, many editions. Especially Bk. I, 460 ff.Google Scholar
[44] Mach, E., History and Root of the Principle of Conservation of Energy, Open Court, Chicago, 1911.Google Scholar
[45] Mach, E., Die Principien der Wärmelehre, 2nd ed., Barth, Leipzig, 1900.Google Scholar
[46] Martin, R. M., Intension and Decision, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.Y., 1963.Google Scholar
[47] Mehlberg, H., “Physical laws and time's arrow,” in Current Issues in the Philosophy of Science (eds. Feigl, H. and Maxwell, G.), Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1961.Google Scholar
[48] Mercier, A., “Ferdinand Gonseth et le problème du temps,” Studia Philosophica, vol. 24, 1964, p. 176.Google Scholar
[49] Noll, W., “Space-time structures in classical mechanics,” in Delaware Seminar in the Foundations of Physics (ed. Bunge, M.), Springer-Verlag, New York, 1967.Google Scholar
[50] Penrose, O., and Percival, I. C., “The direction of time,” Proceedings of the Physical Society, vol. 79, 1962, p. 605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[51] Plato, Timaeus, many editions. See especially 37 and 38.Google Scholar
[52] Popper, K. R., “Irreversible processes in physical theory,” Nature, vol. 181, 1958, p. 402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[53] Prior, A. N., Past, Present and Future, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[54] Rankin, B., “Quantum mechanical time,” Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 6, 1965, p. 1057.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[55] Reichenbach, H., Axiomatik der Raum-Zeit-Lehre, F. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig, 1924.Google Scholar
[56] Reichenbach, H., The Philosophy of Space and Time, Dover, New York, 1957.Google Scholar
[57] Reichenbach, H., The Direction of Time, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[58] Rosenfeld, L., “Observation and the direction of time,” in Gold [31].Google Scholar
[59] Russell, B., Mysticism and Logic, Penguin, London, 1953.Google Scholar
[60] Russell, B., Our Knowledge of the External World, Allen & Unwin, London, 1952.Google Scholar
[61] Smart, J. J. C. (ed.), Problems of Space and Time, Introduction, Macmillan, New York. 1964.Google Scholar
[62] Spencer Jones, H., “The measurement of time,” Endeavour, vol. 4, 1945, p. 123.Google Scholar
[63] Stebbing, L. S., “Some ambiguities in discussions concerning time,” in Philosophy and History (eds. Klibansky, R. and Paton, H. J.), Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1936.Google Scholar
[64] Taylor, R., “Spatial and temporal analogies and the concept of identity,” in Smart [61].Google Scholar
[65] Weyl, H., Space-Time-Matter, 4th ed., Dover, New York, s.d.Google Scholar
[66] Weyl, H., Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1949.Google Scholar
[67] Whitehead, A. N., The Principles of Natural Knowledge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1919.Google Scholar
[68] Whitrow, J. G., The Natural Philosophy of Time, Thomas Nelson, London and Edinburgh, 1961.Google Scholar
[69] Wigner, E. P., “Relativistic invariance and quantum phenomena,” Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 29, 1957, p. 255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[70] Wittgenstein, L., The Blue and Brown Books, Blackwell, Oxford, 1958.Google Scholar
[71] Woodger, J. H., The Technique of Theory Construction, University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1937.Google Scholar
[72] Zeeman, E. C., “Causality implies the Lorentz group,” Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 5, 1964, p. 490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[73] Zocher, H., and Török, C., “About space-time symmetry in the realm of classical general and crystal physics,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 39, 1953, p. 681.CrossRefGoogle Scholar