2006-10-26 13:34:50 · 14 answers · asked by Matthew R 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Yes, time is a mathematical construct, but time is a way to describe a phenomena that REALLY exists.
This is, motion... By the very fact of motion, you have translation and change as a consequence...Therefore, the way to categorize these "changes" and translations of motion..is by having time...Its just another variable to describe motion...which would be, in case of speed (a characteristic of motion) it would be DISTANCE/TIME..
TIME is really just a way for us to keep track of changes and motion so it is more organized, succint, and understandable to the human mind.
2006-10-26 13:49:06 · answer #1 · answered by jack d 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
a cat 'exists,' or time 'eixsts:' here the same word 'exist' is used to attribute the subjects in both cases, but clearly there are some differences between a 'cat' and a 'time,' or to be very specific what a word 'cat' denotes is not the same what what 'time' denotes. So in saying time exists, this existence has to be understood differently.
If you say time does not exist, then there is no longer a room for relativity theory. I cannot positively guarantee that relativity theory is the proof of the existence of time, but provided that the theory is correct, then what can be said is that time is relative to the observer. In a way, when no one is looking at it, it may not 'be' there. A simple question can illustrate my point. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW IN MARS? So far as the issue is centered around the observer, time exists.
The problem arises the moment we shift from relativity theory. Photon, at the speed of light, has no time: to a photon, at the time of the big bang, 2 millions years ago or even 1 billion years into the future is the same thing. Same goes with electron. (c.f. Quantum Physics) The paradox here is that suppose that we take a flight to M 31 nebula (Andromeda) from Earth on a spacecraft that can travel at the speed of light. It would take 2.25 million years to reach, but in a spaceship, it may be the case that the spacecraft reaches the destination instantaneously. 2.25 million years of time is equivalent to an infinitesimal moment of time? In this case, it may be fair to say that time is an illusion; in real it does not exist?
in a nutshell, all we can do is probably just say time exists without being able to prove it; but the very fack that we cannot provide the proof simultaneously means that any attempt to disprove it will not be successful.
2006-10-27 06:26:55 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time does exist. The way we measure time is a mathematical construct of human beings. But even without this measurement, there would still always be a past, present, and future. Even if everything in the universe somehow just paused, within that pause, there is a time lapse. Space and time will always exist even if there is nothing there to acknowledge it.
2006-10-26 20:42:34 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some form of time has to exist. If no form of time existed, then how could anything ever happen? Time as we often think of it (minutes, hours, days) is totally constructed. Just because we have to invent some measure of time, though, it doesn't hold that all time is invented. Think of it like counting oranges. We invent some system to keep track of the fruits, but it doesn't follow from that that those fruits, or their different quantites, do not really exist, or that we invented the fruits, or that the actual number of the oranges is invented. How we talk about the oranges may be invented, but the "real" number of oranges themselves is not.
2006-10-27 00:48:13 · answer #4 · answered by student_of_life 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is. Time is the symbol of the past, present and future. This is a concept that animals do not have. It does exist in that it is a way to quantify and explain "before" and "after", and to plan for things that may happen. It also does not exist in that it is a symbological construct, not a tangible thing.
2006-10-26 20:37:12 · answer #5 · answered by bks33691 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe that time exists but it isn't what humans feel it as. Human's didn't create time, that much i'm sure of... but in a way they did, but only by keeping track of it and saying that it was one way. Without living beings time could be anything and who would be around to care?
2006-10-26 20:37:26 · answer #6 · answered by Rvardell 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time only exists within our minds. I find it humorous that people have counted the same occurence i.e. the sun rising for what? a couple thousand years? Now multiply that by 365 for each day and you get an astonishing number.
2006-10-26 21:48:06 · answer #7 · answered by BluLizard 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is like the "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, will it still make a noise" question.
While I beleive we may have given the concept a name, and be the only animal on the planet capable of being aware of its passing, nevertheless time would still pass even if we were not here to name it or be conscious of its passing.
2006-10-26 20:44:42 · answer #8 · answered by Andastra 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Time is a man made concept. It does not exist because the universe always repeats itself. That is what existence is, a series of probable occurences constantly repeating themselves.
2006-10-26 21:54:30 · answer #9 · answered by bigbadbrad12342003 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my experience is that time only exist on the level of human awareness. Scientist now say that time came out of the "big bang".
2006-10-26 20:39:31 · answer #10 · answered by Weldon 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋