The Origin of Space

As is the case with Time, Space is a topic that these days is regarded as in the purview of Physics. Dazzling notions such as '11-Dimensional Space' and 'Space-Time' only lend further credence to the expertise of Physicists in this area. But, also as is the case with Time, Physics deals only with mathematicized 'Space', and it is still up to Philosophy to deal with its fundamental nature. And, once again, it is Kant who casts a long shadow over the topic. In the tradition that has had human intelligence as passively representing the world, Space has been taken to be either the objective container of all existing things, or a subjective abstraction from actual relations between objects. In contrast, as part of his revolutionary vision that humans actively construct their world, Kant proposed that what we perceive is the complex product of our cognitive faculties, with Space, functioning as 'the form of outer sense', namely, as the arranging and structuring of incoming sensory information. As innovative and prescient as that notion has proven to be, Kant does not push the insight far enough. For, the very idea of an 'outer sense' presupposes an outerness with respect to the subject, and as obscure as that idea might seem at first glance, the exact same relation is invoked in the contemporary phrase 'outer space'. Just as the latter is taken to be whatever is beyond the perimeter of the earth, with respect to the center of the latter, from wherever one is, Space is whatever is beyond the periphery of one's skin. So, the fundamental dimension of Space is 'outside of', from which the three more familiar dimensions, length, height, and depth, not to mention the eleven of String Theory, are constructed. The main reason that Kant falls short of this realization is that he ties Space to cognition, when, as anyone who has uttered, 'Give me my space!' understands, it is more properly implicated in our motility. That is, the very fact that our bodies are locomotive entails an outsideness to them at any time. So, Space is more accurately defined as 'the form of motility'. And, whereas Physics is generally presumed to be about the physical world, and Philosophy, some metaphysical realm, it is the latter that has its feet on the ground when it comes to the topic of Space.