Space and time are the main categories of philosophy. Along with the concept of movement, they are directly related to the objective characteristics of being. The first ideas about the nature of time and space originated in antiquity, when a person experienced the world around him.
Instructions
Step 1
In everyday life, a person understands space and time literally and intuitively, regardless of the philosophical content of these concepts. People know from experience that all material objects have physical dimensions and extension. The change of time of day and seasonal changes in nature have long indicated to a person that all events have a certain duration.
Step 2
With the emergence and development of philosophical knowledge, the attitude to time and space began to change. Some thinkers, for example Epicurus and Democritus, considered these categories as an independent basis of being, which can exist independently of matter and outside of it. These philosophers assumed that the same relationships exist between matter, space and time as between individual substances or elements.
Step 3
Another point of view was held by Aristotle and Leibniz. These philosophers viewed time and space as a unified system of relations, in which interactions between the material objects that make up the world are determined. Outside of such a system of interaction, space and time became empty abstractions without independent content.
Step 4
Space, if we consider it from the standpoint of modern science, is a structural characteristic of matter, the way and form of its existence. Space is a multidimensional category. In relation to it, the terms "extension" and "infinity" are often used. In philosophy, the category of space makes sense only to the extent that the material world can be structured.
Step 5
Time is another form of matter being. It appears in philosophy as a way by which material objects and phenomena can change. The terms “duration”, “flow”, “course”, “past”, “present” and “future” are widely used to describe the category of time. Modern physical and philosophical knowledge allows us to assert that time has the properties of direction and irreversibility.
Step 6
The introduction into science of the theory of relativity, proposed by Albert Einstein, made it possible to clarify the content of the philosophical categories of time and space. It turned out that they are inextricably linked both with each other and with the incessant movement of matter, forming a single and indivisible space-time continuum. According to the conclusions of the theory of relativity, time and space can exist only as attributes of the material world, and their characteristics are determined by the forces of gravity.
