title: The manifold definitions of time.
abstract: We are unable, using our five senses, to feel time, nor, using our intelligence, to define it, because we stand inexorably within time. We achieve a representation of time through evaluation of changes in ourselves and in our environment. This is made possible by memory functions. What if time only existed as a construct in our minds, and what if the absence of this construct made our mode of thinking uncomfortable to us? If our two major tools for constructing our world, feeling and reasoning, are of little help, then the study of time, ie, chronology, might exist as a list of scientific hypotheses, and remain, to some extent, a philosophical question--an enigma that has been approached by thinkers for more than two millenia. In this review, various fields of knowledge are discussed in relation to time, from philosophy and physics to psychology and biology. We discuss the differences between Chronos and Tempus, respectively the time of physicists and that of psychologists.
authors: Department of Public Education, Geneva, Switzerland. Christian.oestreicher@bluewin.ch
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Oestreicher
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D010684:Philosophy; D013850:Thinking; D013995:Time; D013998:Time Perception
keywords: duration; philosophy; physics; psychology; temporal phenomenon; time
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