Time is an abstract concept.....explain!!!?

Answer 1

an abstract concept is some thing that is defined as "Apart from practice or reality; not concrete; ideal; vague; theoretical;" the reason why this is aplied the the theoretical consept of time is that we have no direct way of observing time only it's "effects" on the observer.

A theory is an idea that describes the way an observable phenominon behaves; theories are never proved and should not be considered as facts (remember people less than 500 years ago thought our world was flat) but they are made stronger every time experimental results back up the predictions of a theory.

Time is a theoretical consept thats why it is sometime decsribe as abstract - we don't actually know if it exists or not because there is no way of getting out of the frame of reference, of "experiencing" time.

Newton believed time and space form a "container" for events, which is as real as the objects it contains.

Newton in his principia said;

"Absolute, true, and mathematical time, in and of itself and of its own nature, without reference to anything external, flows uniformly and by another name is called duration. Relative, apparent, and common time is any sensible and external measure (precise or imprecise) of duration by means of motion; such a measure - for example, an hour, a day, a month, a year - is commonly used instead of true time."

all of this basically means that time exist because the observable univer exists. however other philosophers later on made a conection between observations of the "effects" of time and the observer of these reactions to it.

Leibniz believed that time and space are a "conceptual apparatus" describing the interrelations between events. Leibniz thought of time as a fundamental part of an abstract conceptual framework, together with space and number,

within which we sequence events, quantify their duration, and compare the motions of objects. In this view, time does not refer to any kind of entity that "flows," that objects "move through," or that is a "container" for events. only that it is needed to compare the motions of objects.

I would like to thing that time was a "real" force in which the Universe flowed in, however the problem with this idea is that time is not simultanious for every one in the universe. this is due to observers in different frames of reference will have different perceptions of which events are in the future and which are in the past, due to their own indivual speeds. if this where not so the speed of light would not be constant.

This brings us to the situation where we have to ask the enevitable question of "time passing" can be considered to be universally inconsistent, by asking "how fast does time pass?" in addition, whoes "present" is the right one? These are questions which I believe prove Time to be an abstract concept, not a concrete quantity.

Answer 2

Time is not a natural feature of the universe--it doesn't exist as some "thing." There's no Cosmic Master Clock somewhere that keeps the correct time for the universe. Instead, time is strictly an ABSTRACT concept invented by humans to separate events.

Answer 3

All concepts are equally abstract, whether the concept of "time", "table" or " brother" in that they are the collection of properties essential to anything so described.
Time itself however is abstract in a different sense, in that unlike eg a table it cannot, or at least not so obviously, be perceived

Answer 4

I don't believe in time. Well, I don't know, maybe I do, but I don't believe it is constant. Sometime it does genuinely seem to go much faster than at other times, and that's not even a subjective experience, because people around you agree! I don't know, I mean, okay it's based around how fast we orbit the sun, hours of light and dark etc, but it's a very old system, and the universe is constantly changing, so why not time?

The sentence you quoted addresses this situation. Time is a man-made construct, an untouchable, unalterable, and pretty much unfalsifiable theory, and little else. I stand by my original statement actually. I don't believe in time.

Answer 5

if something totally unquantifiable can be expressed as an abstract concept I wouldnt give you the time of day

Answer 6

I don't think so. Time is actually related to distance. The speed of light is a constant in the universe, and it relates time and distance, so they are related. If time is abstract, is distance?

Answer 7

the concept of time is purely man made. somewhere back in time they decided to divide the world into different zones each one at a specific "time" in accordance with how they lie on the planet.

Answer 8

something you cant touch, smell, taste, see and hear - that's an abstract concept

Answer 9

something you cant touch, smell, taste, see and hear - that's an abstract concept

Answer 10

Does time really exist? We are always living in the present... Even if we could trvel back or forward in time would we really be the past or future? For that moment it would actually be the present....