Time&Eternity

Time in the Formulation of Scientific Theory 173
time changes its status within the formulation of physical theory. Whereas
in Newton and Leibniz, time is a necessary explanatory component without
a substantial role, in Prigogine and Cramer, it comes close to being an operational
entity. Theoreticians such as J. Barbour, on the contrary, do not
think that time exists.
In Newton, space and time are the permanent stage for the cosmic drama.
Visible to everyone and in absolute symmetry, every plank is arranged
precisely and every position of the actors can be determined objectively. Although
it is the scene for the most diverse plays, the stage remains basically
untouched by what happens on it. Its solidity is unquestionable; God is its
guarantor. Thus the task of the physicist is merely to explain the action of
the drama. This point of view dominated two and a half centuries with singular
majesty—and for good reason: Its practical applicability in the sphere
of daily life gave it an indestructible vitality. Its defects became obvious only
when physicists began to deal with the very small, the very large, and the
very fast.
Thus the theories of relativity showed that the difference between the
stage and the play is an artificial one. Space and time are just as much a part
of the drama as are the actors, who are somewhat comparable to the atoms
of matter. Scientific research can therefore not limit itself to the behavior of
atoms, i.e., to the performing of the actors. It must be able to describe the
actors, the drama, the stage, and the audience, as well as their interaction. 314
The special theory of relativity robbed the concept of a universally valid
“now” of its validity. It replaced the one absolute time with particular times
dependent on motion [Eigenzeiten], which can be determined precisely and
compared to one another. In the theory of relativity, the issue is less one of
relativization than it is one of relation. Not only do the different particular
times [Eigenzeiten] relate to one another, but space and time also establish a
close connection. Time lost even more sovereignty as a result of the general
theory of relativity. In this theory, Einstein succeeded in linking time, space,
matter, and energy, including gravity. The absolute, true, and mathematical
time reappeared as curved space-time.
Quantum physics was even more iconoclastic with regard to the absoluteness
of time because it caused its ability to be measured to disappear
in the fog of the uncertainty relation. It touched the boundaries of logic and
language and essentially called into question the meaning of the concepts
“objective” and “subjective.” Mathematical undecidability and nonlocality
in the quantum regime attest to the fact that we can never have complete
information and thus can never have complete control over the reality in
which we participate unless there are hidden parameters, yet to be discovered,
that once again ensure, on a deeper level, a complete determinacy of