vodkatini

What is length ??? Can time have length ???

Someone asks some questions like those above, but i've no idea how to answer them. Can you help me ??? Many thanks.

rebelnerd

I'm just a sh#thouse philosopher, but I would describe length as the measured distance between two points. In that respect, a length of time would be the concept of the same. fwiw

Filo

vodkatini

thanks so much for your reply.

But sometimes when I do something I find very boring, the time seems very long. Perhaps you've such experience also. So is the length of time objective ??? Can clock really tell us length of time ???

ps My major interest is Economics and so I know so little of philosophy.

LKS_Blade

The distance between two points is a length, the seperation of two events in time is a period. A length of material, a period of time.

vodkatini

Thanks . So how do we know whether a period of time is long or short ??? Can we measure it in an objective way ???

wordfailure

Hello vodkatini,

So much of science, and ideally, IMO, of philosophy is passive observation. One can think of time as observed rate of change. Some things have a more constant and consistent rate of change than other things. We can measure periods of time objectively by comparing them with observed constants.


It may be that "time" is not itself objective (that is, not raw sense data) but a subjective (having to do with the workings of brains) way of thinking about change. In other words, time could be considered a conceptualization dealing with rates of change. This doesn't appear to be what you are asking but if it is, it seems to me that a tortured interpretation of observation is required to give precedence to the subjective. However, such interpretations do exist.

Tristan Scott

I think if you equate "length" to space, then there would be a definite relationship as space and time are dependent upon one another.

I think that without time, there is no "length" of anything. Everywhere is at the same point. Likewise without space, all time occurs at the same instant.

LKS_Blade

If something is long or short is dependant on what you measure it against. 1 milllion years is long relative to the average human life but short relative to the life of a sun. There is no long or short, only longer and shorter than X.

Long and short is a subjective measurement, the objective measurement we have is time in seconds, minutes, hours, etc.

John Page

Clocks measure time using a mechanism that acts a regular intervals - hence the use of springs and ratchets, governors and other escapements and the oscillation of crystals and atoms. Radioactive decay is another one.

I am no expert on chronology but I would say that the term "length of time" refers to an elapsed period relative to an assumed constant. It seems to me the same approach is used to measure distance, where the length of the object is taken relative to an assumed standard of distance.

Cheers, John

LKS_Blade

But is time constant? it has been proved that 'time' can dialate, so how can there be any standard? There is not absolute referance to measure it against, just as thers is no absolute referance for speed or length. We can only measure a period of time relative to another period of time, just as we can only measure length relative to another length.