The Natural Philosophy of Time

by G.J. Whitrow

Genres: Philosophy

410 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 1981

About the author

Gerald James Whitrow was a British mathematician, cosmologist and science historian.

Reviews

[Matt Statter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic analysis of time. Whitrow starts off contemplating the nature of time he then re-visits this at the end in chapter 7, analysing times universal properties. He considers the various opinions of philosophers and scientists including: Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Newton, Einstein, Bertrand Russell amongst others. He looks at the irreversibility of physical processes (radio active decay and entropy) and the apparent sequential nature of evolution. In the final chapter he discusses the controversy between A and B-theorists and whilst he seems to side with the A theory, making some excellent points, he doesn't seem to fully commit to either view, he does however suggest that time dilation is a local phenomena and that there must be some universal time but not necessarily absolute in the Newtonian view.

Chapters 2 - 6 are detailed analyses of specific subjects: chapter 2 - human perceptions and our psychological awareness of time. Chapter 3 - physiological changes in animals and plants (some of the footnotes are of interest). In the subsequent chapters 4, 5 and 6 the equations and formulae are just not worth attempting for a layman like myself but I persevered and the texts either side of the equations are reasonably clear enough. Chapter 4 - Mathematical Time, first examines the philosophy and psychology behind our intuitional use of numbers in measurement and sequential ordering. Then examines the supposed problems arising from the potential infinite divisibility of time and further discusses the paradoxes formulated by Zeno of Elea, throughout this chapter it seems to assume a linear framework to time, although it does deal with the strange notion of symmetrical time as supported by Bertrand Russell. Chapter 5 - Relativistic Time which looks at the clock paradox that arises from the counter-intuitive phenomenon of time dilation in Special Relativity. Chapter 6 is on Space-Time and Cosmic Time, this may have been the toughest chapter but his conclusion is: as a consequence of expansion there must be some sort of universal time.

[Ellermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent opiniated review of ideas on time

[Albert-Jan Jorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latter half of the book on relativistic time was an absolute delight to read. What a banger this book. Spot on, and engaging! 5***** (for the 1961 edition)