Sunday, September 6, 2009
Post-Kantian Spatio-Temporality
The Formaterial theory of Space and Time insists upon their equipollence and heterogeneity with respect to one another. Now, when he subjects 'Outer Experience' to a species of 'Inner', Kant is according priority to Temporality. However, he eventually corrects this imbalance, when he argues that Self-Knowledge is impossible without Space. In contrast, some prominent post-Kantian systems unequivocally privilege Temporality, For Bergson, the essence of Temporality is the pure flux of 'Duration', of which his 'Space' is a de-vitalized residue. But, the unaddressed problem for Bergson is how the purely Temporal Duration can both be cumulative, and extend beyond what has accumulated, which are two heterogeneous processes, one of which, as has been shown here, is Spatial. On the one hand, Nietzsche's Zarathustra can see only Time leading out from the 'Moment, on the other, his Will to Power is an Externalization of Force. While Samuel Alexander accords equal status to Space and Time, he offers no grounds for distinguishing them from one another. For Whitehead, his Temporal 'Process' is dynamic, but given that his system offers no accommodation of Locomotility, that his version of Space, 'the Extensive Contiuum', is no more than an acausal epiphenomenon, is not surprising. Heidegger, followed in this respect by another Phenomenologist, Sartre, reduces Space to a mode of Time. In his system, what surrounds one is the 'ready-to-hand' potential 'Future'. In his terminology, the critique of 'Future' previously presented here, is that 'readiness' is not given, but has to be created, e. g. a chair has to first be placed in Spatial proximity to me before it can serve me as 'equipment' for a possible 'Future' action. Given the Ontological significance of Temporality expressed in the title, 'Being and Time', this critique of 'Future' undermines Heidegger's entire system. Finally, any extension of the 'Space-Time' homogenization of contemporary Physics from quantified to experiential Space and Time remains unjustified.
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