PART: 1 Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change, said Stephen Hawking. Change has always been a consistent phenomenon.

Time and its presence can only be perceived through observing this change that is happening all around the world, up in the cosmos, and in the universe beyond. But change and time both are to be observed, analyzed, and judged. Through observing with the senses, with reason, only once can determine the presence of change and the passing of something, that something called time. Time, as we know it today, was not so dominant before. Philosophers and Scientists may debate on the question of when time began. But that is a completely different and complex question with a number of answers, each contradicting or supporting the other. Time needs to be perceived and observed and the whole question of its origin can be set aside for the more important one of how it was considered by human beings, how it became a dominant phenomenon, how it governed human thinking and consciousness, and how it became a powerful entity that controlled our very existence, our life, our death, and our history. Scientists agree that civilization actually began with the end of the ice age, some 12,000 years ago. Progress from a prehistoric state was made possible because man was inquisitive; philosophy was always in the blood of man. He perceived the changes happening in nature, the change from light to darkness, the movement of the heavenly bodies, and the endless yet periodic cycles of life and death. Living in a social setup generated a sense of order and this need for order further gave strength to studying the changes happening around and especially the influence of time.

Aristotle was highly concerned with the changes that happened in nature. This change seemed to prompt us to believe in the presence of time. Aristotle said: Whether, if soul did not exist, time would exist or not, is a question that may fairly be asked; for if there cannot be someone to count there cannot be anything that can be counted Thus he proposes that when we are ready to observe, perceive and record change, we can easily understand the passing of time. But when we disregard change and quit observing the passage of time, time ceases to exist. Human reason and intellect thus plays a vital role in our understanding of time. Aristotle claimed that time is the measure of change but also that time is not change because a change may be faster or slower, but not time he advocates the notion that there is no time apart from change Aristotle considered time as a natural entity similar to matter itself, something which is hard to divide and something which is continuous. He said In respect of size there is no minimum; for every line is divided ad infinitum. Hence it is so with time. Aristotle also propagated the notion of absolute time. He believed that events determine the passage of time, the period between two events which when measured gives you the exact time for these events to happen. Aristotle might have been considering the natural events that took place all around nature. The seasonal cycles and other such natural phenomenon could have been predicted thus with some accuracy. Thus with the ideas of Aristotle, who dominated world thinking and philosophy for a considerable amount of time, the notion of time being absolute got a firm foundation. Aristotle also considered time to be a separate entity from space. Later on his ideas were widely challenged; it became clear that there was no such thing as absolute time because it cannot be perceived directly. We evaluate and understand time differently, time is different for different people, even when two people are observing the same event their evaluation of time would be different.

Christian Theologians who had their deep faith in divine power of God behind the creation of the universe, believed time also as an entity created by god. St. Augustine was of the opinion that time never existed before our universe was created. But he does not hesitate to share his confusion with the philosophers of his time regarding the definition of time when he says What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know. St. Augustine had a very subjective view of time. His ideas on time can be related with those of Aristotle. He firmly believed that time is nothing in reality but exists only in the minds apprehension of that reality. Time gradually started to dominate over our consciousness and thus a need arose to generate methods to measure it, to contain it, to dominate it. Not all human beings who lived in societies at that time felt the need to record time. Some were quite happy with observing the single most powerful entity that was seen producing change- the sun. It was the giver of life, the destroyer, and the perpetuator of life. Observing the sun and its shifting from one position in the sky to the next was more than enough to understand the passing of time. But while living in a civilized setup one felt the need for proper time-keeping. Clocks were made in the Middle East and Africa some 5000 to 6000 years ago. The need for order prompted men to make clocks. Agriculture, religious festivities, and other social activities required some kind of order; this order was provided by the keeping of time. Times was always present, but even when man tried to measure it he could never explain what it was, or where it could be found. But time can be measured with relation to some matter, or the motion of matter. The notion of time continuously flowing started to strengthen then, this was assisted by the invention of the hourglass and the water clock. In an hourglass, the flow of sand,

which was carefully measured, reminded us of the flow of time. The water clocks were designed in such a way that the measured dripping of water governed our measurement of time. Hence time was equated with the flow of particles, of matter. The ideas of the philosopher Heraclites ring out clearly now. He had argued that the only thing that was basic in nature was change and flow of time. Everything flows said Heraclites. Everything is in a state of flux and thus we cannot step twice into the same river. Still time was mostly perceived through the cyclic, regular occurrence of certain phenomenon. The seasonal cycle was vital in this, together with the observation of the cosmos- the sun, the moon, and the stars. The wonders of the sky (and the space beyond) were numerous. Cosmology thus played a vital part in forming the concept of time. The stars and their different constellations were considered to signal some incident that might happen later in time. The eclipse of the moon also helped in determining days, months, and years. Religion too started to take root, with its faith grounded in the human perception of change and the passing of time, time which was just one among the entities which served the all powerful perpetuator of this change- God. PART: 2 Rene Descartes had a unique explanation of why time produces changes or why time continuously changes while space remains more or less intact. He was of the opinion that God continuously re-creates everything after a certain period of time and hence everything is seen to change with time. Material bodies have the property of spatial extension but no temporal endurance, according to him. He thus concluded that time was a kind of sustenance or re-creation. A continuous process of change which was carried out by the divine will of God. But seventeenth century physicists Isaac Barrow and his famous student Isaac Newton rejected this

connection between time and change. Barrow was of the opinion that time was beyond and independent of change, an entity which had existed even before the creation of the universe. Newton further proposed that space and time were not material substances. This theory of Newton and Barrow is called as the Substantival theory of time. Isaac Newton and his theories proved to be vital in the understanding of time and space. His three laws of motion revolutionized the scientific way of observing time. Newton believed in the concept of absolute time but refused to accept the possibility of an absolute space. Newton said Absolute space, in its own nature, without relation to anything external, remains always similar and immovable. His theory on absolute time is called as Absolutism. Timelines were based on the concept of absolute time. Until the twentieth century this concept of absolute time, as propagated by Newton and Galileo, prevailed. Galileo used the pendulum cock and a water clock to measure time. These clocks helped him to further propagate his theories on absolute time. The precise motion of a pendulum was calculated in proportion with his own pulse rate in an experiment which he conducted in 1583. The workings of the water clock are recorded in his work Two New Sciences (1638). These experiments and their apparent success prompted Galileo to believe that time is the same for all reference frames (absolute time). Later with the laws of motion by Isaac Newton in the late seventeenth century, scientific ways to calculate time was conceived. The laws of Newton were used in physics to calculate linear tine. Linear time is similar to absolute time and hence is considered universally applicable to everything dealing with time. In Newtons words: Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature flows equably without regard to anything external and by another name called duration: relative, apparent, and common time, is some sensible and external measure of duration by the

means of motion, which is commonly used instead of true time; such as an hour, a day, a month, a year. With this new parameters of linear time established, science now had a novel way of observing and calculating the duration between events. It was a highly influential finding by Newton and it received appreciation from the scientific circle. Clocks thus began to be recognized as devices capable of measuring time, linear time. This was a period of a whole new scientific revolution of experimentation and analysis. Proof of every hypothesis was provided and hence science became more accurate and popularly acceptable. This influence of science dominated over the masses and their ideas on time and space. Newtons laws were even used to study the motion of celestial bodies. His ground breaking laws on gravity and motion hence opened a new chapter in the study of time. Newtons absolutism was refuted by Gottfried Leibniz. His studies were also based on change. Leibniz proposed his theories on time which he considered to be relative; he said I hold space to be something merely relativeas an order of coexistences, as time is an order of successions. Newton challenged the theories of Leibniz with his remarks on time and space: Absolute space, in its own nature, without relation to anything external, always remains similar and immovable. Leibniz objected to Newtons views and proposed his relational theory of time. His argument again was that time was not an entity which had an independent existence. It too depended on the happening of events no matter how irregular they were. Leibniz considered the overall ordering of events as time. The German philosopher Immanuel Kant considered time and space as two forms of human intuition. He considered the relationship of time with the human mind, a unique concept at that time. Time, for him, was more how the mind of a person

perceived it. Kant felt that human senses could only perceive the world through time and space. In his Critique of Pure Reason he says that the representation of space cannot be obtained from the relations of appearance through experience, but this outer experience is itself first possible only through this representation. Kants idea was that we can never observe the presence of time but can experience change, and the events that happen in time. Kant called time and space as two forms of human intuition. He was of the opinion that time was more in the psyche rather than in the physique. There is no actual physical perception of time but we experience the world as a series of processes in time and space. This was a whole new idea on the way of observing time. The conscious mind was vital here and time became a meta-physical entity. Change happened not when the physical object actually changed but when the mind perceives the fact that an object now different from its former state and has changed. While the theories on the concept of time advanced, instruments to measure time were also evolving simultaneously. Mechanical clocks, which made use of weights and springs, began to appear in the late 1300s. The first clocks did not have hour or minute hands, but later clocks included these also. In 1656, Christian Huggens invented the pendulum clock for popular use. These clocks were much accurate compared to earlier varieties. Clocks were vital for navigation purposes also. The knowledge of time and that too accurate time helped sailors to reach their destinations safely and on time. In 1761, John Harrison succeeded in inventing a small clock accurate enough to use for navigation at sea. This added a whole new dimension to time and time keeping. Accuracy was vital at sea where there were no actual landmarks to determine ones position. The only true companion to the sailors being the pole star, but it was not enough. Thousands of ships were lost at sea or were destroyed because of the inability to calculate precise time. With the invention of the chronometer by Harrison, navigation became easier. Thus the quest for time, in a

way, assisted sea explorations. Such explorations would later assist in colonization and imperialism is another aspect of this altogether. By the early 1800s mechanical parts identical to each other were produced which facilitated the mass production of clocks. Clocks became cheaper and popular. Families could now afford for them, time started to become more personal in a sense a consumer item. From here begins the steps which would lead to todays lack of regard for time. The concept of linear time was at this time being promoted by Barrow, Newton, Kant and other philosophers and scientists. This strengthened the place of the concept of linear time in the mentality of nineteenth century European science and philosophy. PART: 3 Up until the beginning of the twentieth century, people continued to believe in absolute time. With Albert Einstein science found new ways to challenge the notions of absolute time. His Theory of Relativity revolutionized the study of space and time. This groundbreaking theory in science put an end to absolute time. Time became more personal, each person who experienced an event in time and space must perceive it differently. Stephen Hawking in his A Brief History of Time says The theory of relativity, however, forces us to change fundamentally our ideas of space and time. We must accept that time is not completely separate from and independent of space To quote Hawking again: the discovery that the speed of light appeared the same to every observer, no matter how he was moving, led to the theory of relativity and in that one had to abandon the idea that there was a unique absolute time. Instead, each observer would have his own measure of time as recorded by a clock that he carried: clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree. Thus time became a more personal concept, relative to the observer who measured it.

Relative time is considered with regard to some motion. This is similar to the measuring of time using the rhythmical motion of a pendulum, a clock or the motion of the heavenly bodies. Relative time is against the notion of absolute time and hence it may not be accurate. It will vary from person to person. The theory of relativity is grounded in the study of light and its speed. The speed of light is now used to measure time. Another development was in the concept of relationship between space and time, a unique concept of space time. In the very words of Minkowski who played a vital role in promoting this concept of the union of space and time : Henceforth space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union of the two will preserve an independent reality. Scientific discoveries in the field of astronomy aided in the understanding of the universe and in it the concept of time. Edwin Hubbles observations suggested the possibility of a Big Bang as the reason behind the origin of the universe and with it the birth of time. In this period heated debates were also held on whether time is real or just an imaginary construct. The philosopher John Ellis Mc Taggart was foremost in this debate. He joined the long line of early philosophers including Zeno, Plato, Spinoza, and Hegel by claiming that time did not exist. Philosophers including Mc Taggart claimed that the passage of time was mere illusion and the only real entity was the present. He argues that the relationship between the past, present, and the future is continuously changing, but time is based upon this relationship between past, present, and the future. A concept which keeps on changing and has no firm base to stand upon is a false concept; hence time is merely an illusion. In the words of Mc Taggart from his The Unreality of Time, Position in time, as time appears to usare distinguished in two ways. Each position is earlier than some, and later than some, of the other positions. And each

position is either past, present, or future. The distinctions of the former class are permanent, while those of the latter are not. But an event, which is now present, was future and will be past. Mc Taggart further asserts his claims by saying, And it is because the distinctions of past, present and future seem to me to be essential for time, that I regard time as unreal. Mc Taggart implements his theories on time to study the concept of history. He observes that historical events have same time characteristics as made up stories. Stories and histories are based upon the past, present, and the future, concepts which he proved as ever changing, hence histories rely on the memory of the past, which varies from person to person and thus is no better than made up stories. PART: 4 The advancement in science has facilitated in the better understanding of our universe. The quest for understanding our origins thus becomes a quest to crack the confusion surrounding time. Stephen Hawking and his revelations regarding the Big Bang have proved to be vital. He considers the logical possibility that time might have had its beginning with the Big Bang since an earlier time simply would not be defined. According to him, The laws of science do not distinguish between the past and the future. Events are described as things that happen at a particular point in space and time. While space and time are unique for all events, they too are affected by the events that happen in the universe. Thus Hawking makes it clear that our views of the nature of time have changed over the years. Hawking uses the second law of thermodynamics, which says that in a closed system disorder, or entropy, always increases with time, to put forward his unique concept of the Arrow of Time. He says that, The increase of disorder or

entropy with time is one example of what is called an arrow of time, something that distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time. His views on the Psychological Arrow of Time is very insightful, according to him the psychological arrow of time, is the direction in which we feel time passes, the direction in which we remember the past but not the future. Recent debates have been held on discussing whether the universe really had a beginning and with it did time too begin, and also whether with the end of this universe time too would end. Scientists have put forward the concept of the Big Rip a phenomenon to happen some trillion years in the future. But these scientific theories indirectly give strength to our notions regarding the ever continuing presence of time. Their assumptions that time might have begun with the Big Bang prompts many to place time besides the question of our origins and the concept of change. The general theory of relativity supports this claim; it says that space, time, and the universe began with the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago. Before the Big Bang there was no space or time. Kari Enqvist says that, In the theory of relativity, the concept of time begins with the Big Bang the same way as parallels of latitude begin at the North Pole In the twentieth century scientists have found solutions to Einsteins general theory of relativity that helped in propagating the concept of closed loops of time. These loops or closed curves in space time allows a person to go forward continuously in time until one arrives in ones own past. Scientist Gdel argues for the unreality of time. Physicists of the twenty first century are more inclined towards the belief of time being unreal. They consider time as not a fundamental part of nature. Debates are held on this issue and most philosophers agree on the presence of time, but like St. Augustine they too are unable to define what time is.