Do Things Move? Spacetime and the Problem of Modern Science

Becoming and Order  Becoming: first insight of philosophy: everything changes into something else, or into everything else  Order: second insight: the concept of change involves a principle connecting the extremes of the change… something that does not change… something that transcends what changes  If not change… creation  Early Greek philosophy: search for the first principle(s) of change

Heraclitus  Change means not to be: if I’m changing, I’m constantly not what I am  If becoming is, nothing else is; rather, everything is constantly not  Becoming is the only reality

Parmenides vs. Heraclitus  What is cannot be not (principle of non contradiction): if I am, I cannot be not  Being is  Becoming is just an appearance  Zeno supports his master by elaborating the famous paradoxes on the impossibility of movement. Movement is impossible because it involves to step forward through what does not exist…

The Pluralistic Solution  Okay with Parmenides: what is does not change  Okay with Heraclitus: everything is constantly changing  Everything is composed of basic elements interacting with each other

Pluralistic Solution’s Problems  Only the elements are; everything else is just appearance… manifestation of them  There is no meta- principle connecting the elements with each other: they cannot interact; their movement is not possible  Movement cannot be made possible by dividing reality into smaller and smaller pieces

Aristotle’s Solution  Analogy of being: ‘being’ is predicated neither univocally nor equivocally  There is no contradiction between the ‘is’ and the ‘is not’ of the change  A subject can ‘be’ (act) and ‘be not’ (potential) at the same time  Change makes actual what was potential  The substratum of the change is always continuous (in the philosophical sense)

Accidental Change Man BabyAdult Moment A Moment B In order to have a change something – the subject of the change – must remain the same The accidental form changes Is a baby in act Is an adult potentially Metaphysical unity Motionless: if ‘being a baby’ moved with me, I would always remain a baby

Substantial Change First Matter ManAshes Moment A Moment B The substantial form changes Is a man in act Is ashes potentially Metaphysical unity Motionless

Local Movement Something HereThere Moment A Moment B Is here in act Is there potentially Metaphysical unities: motionless Motionless: if ‘here’ moved with me, I would always remain here Space Motionless: if ‘there’ moved with me, I would never be there Local movement requires a continuous material relation between more things. If there were only one thing there would be no local movement

Space and time HereThere Before After They don’t exist

Aristotle and Augustine on Time  Time does not exist without the soul  No part of time exists… though time is divisible Even the “now” as a part of time does not exist. Time can be divided into “instants”—can be numbered— but the instant does not exist