The meaning of time : an introduction into philosophical, biological and physical aspects of time

314 Pages·11.3 MB·en_US

by  Woehler, Karlheinz E.

NPS-PH-91-005
NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
Monterey, California
THE MEANING OF TIME
AN INTRODUCTION INTO PHILOSOPHICAL, BIOLOGICAL
AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF TIME
KARLHEINZ E. WOEHLER
JANUARY 1991
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11. TITLE (Include Security Classification) THE MEANING OF TIME
AN INTRODUCTION INTO PHILOSOPHICAL, BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF TIME
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Karlheinz E. Woehler
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This report presents an introduction into philosophical, biological and physical
aspects of time. Time in man's basic experience, symbolizations of time, the western
view of historical time and the evolution of the concept of time in philosophy are
outlined. A brief introduction to biological clocks, chemical oscillations and
speculations about the nature of the human time sense follow. The major portion of the
report deals with the search for the arrow of time in nature from physics. Absolute
time in Newtonian physics, time in special relativity and the time inversion invariance
of physical laws, appears to leave no room for an arrow of time in nature. Even the
concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics are found not to be grounded
in the laws of nature themselves but rather in the initial conditions of the time
evolving systems. The search for the origin of the arrow of time leads to the big
bang origin of the universe which was a very low entropy state. The proper description
of the evolution of the universe in terms of general relativity (cont'd)
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Karlheinz E. Woehler [phone] Pff/Wn
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19. (cont'd from page 1) shows that time cannot be a dimension external to the
universe but appears as an internal evolution parameter in recent attempts in
the literature to give a quantum cosmological description of the origin of the
universe.
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THE MEANING OF TIME
An Introduction into Philosophical, Biological
and Physical Aspects of Time.
Karlheinz E. Woehler
January 1991

DUDLFV^fOX L«6RARY -
'-HOOL
NAV
Abstract —
|^|0N1».;
This report presents an introduction into philosophical, biological
and physical aspects of time. Time in man's basic experience,
symbolizations of time, the western view of historical time and the
evolution of the concept of time in philosophy are outlined. A brief
introduction to biological clocks, chemical oscillations and speculations
about the nature of the human time sense follow. The major portion of the
report deals with the search for the arrow of time in nature from physics.
Absolute time in Newtonian physics, time in special relativity and the time
inversion invariance of physical laws, appears to leave no room for an
arrow of time in nature. Even the concept of entropy and the second law of
thermodynamics are found not to be grounded in the laws of nature
themselves but rather in the initial conditions of the time evolving
systems. The search for the origin of the arrow of time leads to the big
bang origin of the universe which was a very low entropy state. The proper
description of the evolution of the universe in terms of general relativity
shows that time cannot be a dimension external to the universe but appears
as an internal evolution parameter in recent attempts in the literature to
give a quantum cosmological description of the origin of the universe.

..
AN INTRODUCTION INTO PHILOSOPHICAL. BIOLOGICAL AND
PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF TIME
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction 1
A. Philosophical Aspects of Time
2. Time in man's basic experience of past, present 9
future and the notion of the arrow of time
3. Symbolization of the time experience in art and myothlogy 17
4. Time awareness in the western view of the historical process 23
5. Evolution of the concept of time in western philosophy 28
6. Being and time in Heidegger's philosophy 30
B Biological and Psychological Aspects of Time
7. The biological clock, oscillations of chemical reaction systems 47
8. The data storage size hypothesis of the human time sense 60
C Time in its Physical Aspects
9. Absolute time in Newtonian physics, and time measurement 67
technology
10. Relativity of the time concept in Einstein's Special Theory of 75
Relativity
11. Invariance of the laws of physics under time inversion 94
transformation and its significance. The PCT-Theorem
12. The thermodynamic arrow of time. Entropy and the second 121
fundamental law of thermodynamics
13. The thermodynamics of the earth-sun system and an 147
explanation for the evolution of life on earth
14. Search for the origin of the thermodynamic arrow of 156
time in the evolution of the universe
15. The Big-Bang and the "Standard Cosmological Model" 160
16. Black Holes - The end of time 184
17. The structure of space-time singularities 196