|
Jeffrey, List,
Thanks for the thoughtful contributions. Yes, you are correct,
my question was regarding the real character of time and space.
Murray Murphey devotes a rather large section to this
question at the conclusion of his The Development of Peirce's
Philosophy, which I have been finding tremendously useful.
(I find I tend to agree with Murphey's pronouncements. He
analyzes Peirce very closely, and I especially like his analysis
of the evolution of Peirce's thoughts.) (BTW, Houser noted
Murphey's "controversial interpretations", but I have been
unable to find to what specifically Houser was referring.)
The sense I have is that Peirce viewed time as preceding
space, with both borne out of continuity. I agree with your
concluding paragraph. One of my favorite Peirce quotes you
paraphrased. To wit, "space does for different subjects of one
predicate precisely what time does for different predicates of
the same subject." (CP 1.501)
I got into this investigation by looking at the particulars
of events and entities. I think it is a neat trick how Peirce
relates events to time, and that entities arise from events.
Peirce also clearly places thought within events.
I've been wondering if the more precise terminology is the
time-space continuum.
Mike
On 5/15/2017 7:03 PM, Jeffrey Brian
Downard wrote:
Gary
R, Jon A, Mike B, List,
Let's
distinguish between (1) the experience of space and time,
(2) various mathematical systems that represent possible
spatial and temporal frameworks, and (3) the metaphysical
questions that we seem to be asking about the real character
of space and time--and our attempt to theorizing about such
things in physics and cosmology. My assumption is that you are
asking about (3).
In
a broad sense, Sir William Rowan Hamilton anticipated
Einstein's idea that space and time can be conceived as parts
of a four dimensional continuum. In fact, he used the algebra
of quaternions to articulate a formal framework for conceiving
of such physical relations as part of a four dimensional
field.
For
a bit of the context of the 19th century discussion of time as
a fourth dimension of a single space-time framework, see: Bork, Alfred M. "The fourth
dimension in nineteenth-century physics." Isis 55, no. 3 (1964): 326-338.
Turning
for a moment to (2), it is clear that Peirce was keenly aware
of the major developments in the mathematical conceptions of
space and time by Riemann, Cayley, Klein--and that Einstein
was drawing on these same sets of mathematical ideas in his
development of the cosmological and physical theories of
general and special relativity. What is more, Peirce was
keenly aware that Newton's notion of an absolute for time--as
he had argued for space--contained a number of difficult
logical and metaphysical issues that needed sorting. Einstein
was fixing his attention on the same issues--but looking at
them mainly from the vantage point of the physicist and not
that of the logician.
In addition to understanding the
metaphysical implications of Hamilton's applications of
quaternions, Peirce used the logic of
relations to articulate a broader framework in which space
and time might be conceived as evolving from a larger number
of qualitative dimensions. As such, he anticipated Smolin's
idea that the dimensions of space and time have evolved. After all, on Peirce's account, all
qualities can be conceived of as part of a larger continuum
of possible qualities (Lecture 8, RLT). As such, it is
reasonable to suppose that the
separation between the dimensions of space and time evolved by a processes of specification
and differentiation--as did all of the dimensions of
possible qualities.
With
respect to (1) above, I think that Peirce's remarks about the
logical character of our conceptions of space and time contain
a number of pregnant ideas that are worth sorting out. On the
one hand, the conception of space and the experience of
spatiality serve the function of allowing us to represent
different objects as having the same properties at the same
time--but in different places. The conception of time and the
experience of temporality, on the other hand, allow us to
represent one and the same object as taking different
properties--but at different times. This seemingly simple set
of logical ideas involve rather large ideas about the possible
metaphysical relations that might hold between space and time.
--Jeff
Jeffrey Downard
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
Northern Arizona University
(o) 928 523-8354
From:
Gary Richmond <gary.richm...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2017 9:24 AM
To: Peirce-L
Subject: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Re: Did Peirce Anticipate
the Space-Time Continuum?
Mike, Jon, List,
I asked Fernando Zalamea--my go-to scholar for
questions regarding mathematical continutiy--and, while
he noted that physics is not at all his field, he
responded by writing (in part):
FZ: I
imagine that the Proceedings of the Harvard
Sesquicentennial dedicated to Peirce’s Physics may
have clues.
[note:
for the Proceedings, see;
http://catalogue.wellcomelibrary.org/search~S8?/aCharles+S.+Peirce+Sesquicentennial+International+Congress+%281989+%3A+Harvard+University%29/acharles+s+peirce+sesquicentennial+international+congress+++++1989+harvard+university/-3,-1,0,B/browse
FZ:
On the other hand, as far as I know,
relational logic is far from quantum logic. This
second trend originates with von Neumann's Continuous
Geometries and orthomodular lattices,
something that, I think, Peirce could not
envision. (emphasis added)
I have not yet read the paper you pointed to Mike
(I intend to), but although I have sometimes thought
otherwise (based principally on a readong of the 1898
lecture series, published as
Reasoning and the Logic of Things), I would at
present temd tp agree with Zalamea here.
And I agree with the whole of Jon Awbrey's post
leading to his conclusion:
JA: I think
the full import of [Peirce's] on-theoretic and
pragmatic-semiotic
approaches to scientific inquiry is a task for the
future to
work out.
Best,
Gary R
--
__________________________________________
Michael K. Bergman
Cognonto Corporation
319.621.5225
skype:michaelkbergman
http://cognonto.com
http://mkbergman.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mkbergman
__________________________________________
|
