The Metaphysics of the Time-Machine
Subscribe/Renew Journal
The concept of time-travel is a modern idea which combines the imaginary signification of rational domination, the imaginary signification of technological omnipotence, the imaginary concept of eternity and the imaginary desire for immortality.
It is a synthesis of central conceptual schemata of techno-science, such as the linearity and homogeneity of time, the radical separation of subjectivity from the world, the radical separation of the individual from his/her social-historical environment. The emergence of this idea, its spread during the 20th century as a major theme of science fiction literature alongside its dissemination as a scientific hypothesis, its popularity with both the public and the scientific community, are indications of the religious role of techno-science.
It is my opinion, finally, that, as a chimera, time-travel is non-feasible and impossible.
In order to support my claims, I will briefly outline the origins of the time-travel concept and its epistemological and metaphysical/ontological conditions. If these conditions prove to be absurd, the logical impossibility of time-travel will have been demonstrated.
Keywords
- Anders, G., & Eatherly, C. (1961). Burning Conscience: The case of the Hiroshima pilot, London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
- Castoriadis, C. (1997). The Castoriadis Reader, ed. D.A. Curtis, Oxford: Blackwell.
- Castoriadis, C. (2008). Fait e à faire. Les Carrefours du labyrinthe, Paris: Points.
- DeWitt, B. S. (1970). ‘Quantum Mechanics and Reality’, Physics Today 23 (9): 30-40.
- Einstein, A. (1905). ‘On the electrodynamics of moving bodies’, Annalen Phys. 17: 891-921.
- Fukuyama, F. (1992). The End of History and the Last Man, New York: Free Press.
- Gleick, J. (2017). Time Travel. London: 4th Estate.
- Goldin, J. (1988). ‘On Honi the Circle Maker: A demanding prayer’, Studies in Midrash and Related Literature, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.
- Hawking, S. W. (1992) ‘Chronology Protection Conjecture’, Physics Review D. 46 (2): 603-611.
- Kim, S. W., & Thorne, K. S. (1991) ‘Do vacuum fluctuations prevent the creation of closed timelike curves?’, Physical Review, D. 43 (12): 3929-3947.
- Koselleck, R. (2004). Futures Past. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Lewis, D. (1976). ‘The Paradoxes of Time Travel’. American Philosophical Quarterly 13 (2): 145-152.
- Merleau-Ponty, M. (2002). Phenomenology of Perception, tr. C. Smith, London: Routledge.
- Mumford, L. (1967). The myth of the machine I: Technics and Human Development. N. York: Harcourt Brace.
- Proust, M. (2000) Time Regained, tr. A. Mayor & T. Kilmartin, London: Vintage Books.
- Schismenos, A. (2016). ‘The ontological revolution. On the phenomenology of the Internet. SOCRATES 4 (2): 56-67.
- Titor, J. (2001), Original posts retrieved from http://www.johntitor.com/ (last visit, December 28, 2018, 21.07)
- Wells, H. G. (1895) The Time Machine, London: Heinemann.
Abstract Views: 501
PDF Views: 0