English

The layers that build up the notion of time

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2021-05-18 v2 History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

Confusion and disagreement around the notion of time is due to the fact that we often fail to recognize that we call 'time' a variety of distinct notions, only partially related to one another. Many apparently obvious properties of time are results of different kinds of approximations, idealizations, or special contexts. I illustrate a number of distinct notions of time, their differences and relations; they are all relevant for describing the real world. To understand time, we have to break it apart.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2105.00540,
  title  = {The layers that build up the notion of time},
  author = {Carlo Rovelli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2105.00540},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

7 pages, Contribution to the volume 'Time and Science', R. Lestienne and P. Harris eds., World Scientific