Friday, 18 July 2025

Time and Temporality in a Relational Framework

Having reconsidered causality and agency, we now turn to the concept of time—a central but often puzzling dimension of physical theory and lived experience. Traditional physics treats time as a parameter, a backdrop against which events unfold. A relational ontology offers a more nuanced perspective on temporality.

1. Time as Emergent from Relational Change

  • Time is not a universal, absolute flow but arises from changes in relational configurations.

  • Temporal ordering reflects patterns of actualisation and transition within a network of constraints.

  • Without relational change, the notion of time loses meaning.


2. The Problem of Temporal Directionality

  • The arrow of time—why time seems to flow forward—is explained traditionally via thermodynamics and entropy.

  • In a relational view, temporal directionality emerges from asymmetric constraint modulations that favour certain transitions over others.

  • This connects the thermodynamic arrow with relational dynamics of coherence and decoherence.


3. Quantum Temporality and Contextuality

  • Quantum phenomena challenge classical temporal concepts with nonlocality and entanglement.

  • Temporality in quantum processes is context-dependent, with measurement events punctuating relational fields.

  • Relational ontology accommodates these features by treating time as a local emergent property rather than a fixed parameter.


4. Implications for Experience and Consciousness

  • Human experience of time—its flow, memory, anticipation—reflects the relational construction of temporal order in cognitive systems.

  • This aligns with philosophical and neuroscientific approaches emphasising time as process and relation, not static dimension.


Closing

A relational approach to time dissolves many classical paradoxes, situating temporality as a dynamic, emergent feature of the fabric of reality and experience.

Next, we will explore how these insights inform the ongoing quest for a unified physical theory.

No comments:

Post a Comment