Sunday, March 6, 2011

Experience and the Space-Time Continuum

Basic lived experience consists of a combination of the here-there dimension and the now-then dimension. The former can be further subdivided, yielding the three dimensions of Euclidean space, and each dimension can be assigned a magnitude. The latter can be coordinated with any of these quantified sub-dimensions, facilitating a likewise assignation of a magnitude. Together, these four quantities constitute the 'Space-Time Continuum' of contemporary Physics. But, though combined in lived experience, the here-there dimension and the now-then dimension are given as heterogeneous with respect to one another. Hence, the homogeneity of the Space-Time Continuum is a only a product of derivative abstractions and quantifications, and is not at all given in basic lived experience, contrary to what some thinkers seem to presume.

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