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Time as Relative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2015

Denis Corish
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Abstract

Philosophical development of Leibniz's view that time is merely earlier–later order is necessary because neither Leibniz nor modern followers sufficiently answered the Newtonian charge that order does not give quantity. Logically, order is transitive, quantity, as in distance, is not. Quantity, as well as order, is naturally assumed in Newton's absolute time, so that to declare the mere relative order sufficient is to have to show how quantity can arise for it. The modern theory of the continuum, perfectly applicable to Newton's absolute, does not show this but assumes quantity. The development given here shows how interval, instant and simultaneity can be logically developed from Leibniz's insight.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy , Volume 90 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 369 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2015 

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37 I should like to thank Anthony O'Hear for allowing the publication of these and other not commonly accepted notions of mine about time. We must somehow preserve the possibility of radical, non–bespoke innovation.