Science and the modern worldWhitehead, Alfred North
Religion
Science and the modern world
Whitehead, Alfred North
Science
The question now arises whether all enduring objects discover the same
principle of differentiation of space from time; or even whether at
different stages of its own life-history one object may not vary in its
spatio-temporal discrimination. Up till a few years ago, everyone
unhesitatingly assumed that there was only one such principle to be
discovered. Accordingly, in dealing with one object, time would have
exactly the same meaning in reference to endurance as in dealing with
the endurance of another object. It would also follow then that spatial
relations would have one unique meaning. But now it seems that the
observed effectiveness of objects can only be explained by assuming that
objects in a state of motion relatively to each other are utilising, for
their endurance, meanings of space and of time which are not identical
from one object to another. Every enduring object is to be conceived as
at rest in its own proper space, and in motion throughout any space
defined in a way which is not that inherent in its peculiar endurance.
If two objects are mutually at rest, they are utilising the same
meanings of space and of time for the purposes of expressing their
endurance; if in relative motion, the spaces and times differ. It
follows that, if we can conceive a body at one stage of its life history
as in motion relatively to itself at another stage, then the body at
these two stages is utilising diverse meanings of space, and
correlatively diverse meanings of time.
In an organic philosophy of nature there is nothing to decide between
the old hypothesis of the uniqueness of the time discrimination and the
new hypothesis of its multiplicity. It is purely a matter for evidence
drawn from observations.[5]
Footnote 5:
_Cf._ my _Principles of Natural Knowledge_, Sec. 52:3.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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