Zeit und Geschichte Time and History - Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein ...
Zeit und Geschichte Time and History - Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein ...
Zeit und Geschichte Time and History - Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein ...
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36<br />
Perception of the World in the Contemporary Epoch: <strong>Time</strong> Experience - Natalia Bukovskaya<br />
incidental. On the one h<strong>and</strong>, it means multiplication of the<br />
absolute, <strong>and</strong> on the other, “dispersion” of time, its<br />
decentralization. Interruption, fragmentation of time context<br />
is outlined. The absolute, ruthless, linear time is contrasted<br />
to the relative, flexible <strong>and</strong> nonlinear one. In painting this<br />
new image of time is expressed by Salvador Dali’s “soft”<br />
watch. Correlation of the time-clock with the instability of<br />
memory is one of the greatest ideas. It was suggested by<br />
Dali, <strong>and</strong> later it keeps on appearing in modern reflection<br />
of various sciences, from theory of information to neurophysiology.<br />
The thesis seems to be obvious, though it has<br />
not been introduced for a long time. It is impossible to<br />
even talk about time without memory.<br />
In science at the beginning of the 20 th century there<br />
appear new metaphors of time (trains <strong>and</strong> maps), chosen<br />
by Einstein <strong>and</strong> Poincarè, which were not only mental<br />
experiments, but the reflections of modern world technologies.<br />
The relative time by Einstein <strong>and</strong> Poincarè<br />
expressed the collision of two chronometries of the<br />
European civilization.[2] But the science does not stop at<br />
it. In the 20th century there appears the “rediscovery of<br />
time” in the synergetic model of time in physics.<br />
Irreversibility was recognized as an essential characteristics<br />
of the world, there was the reorientation from “the<br />
world of trajectories” to “the world of processes”, from<br />
existence to formation. [5] Instead of the purpose of<br />
existence <strong>and</strong> formation contraposition, there appears the<br />
aim at correlation of these two aspects of reality. Our<br />
epoch, the epoch of accelerating development, is pierced<br />
with the arrow of time. According to Prigogine “the arrow of<br />
time is associated with the transition from the present to<br />
the future; it is because of the present containing no future<br />
that we make this transition from the present into the<br />
future” [6.p.346]. Here it is necessary to mention that as<br />
there is always an essentially implied beginning <strong>and</strong> end of<br />
the transition, the transition itself is achieved at a certain<br />
period of time <strong>and</strong> is characterized by a certain state of<br />
transitivity; all that predetermines the existence of<br />
transitional time. Transitivity is ambiguous. On the one<br />
h<strong>and</strong>, the depth of the transition, according to Jaspers,<br />
“introduces the highest clarity of being <strong>and</strong> truth”, that is<br />
why “the greatest spiritual works appear in transitional<br />
periods on the border of different epochs”. But, on the<br />
other h<strong>and</strong>, “turning of the transition into a vivid stable<br />
duration eliminates perception sharpness alongside with<br />
time perception” [8. pp.251-252]. Annoying stability of<br />
transitivity expresses itself in the superficiality <strong>and</strong> unreality<br />
of being.<br />
Let us consider the metaphor of an arrow. Two<br />
elements appear in the arrow. One element is the<br />
direction, expressed in two ends. These ends are precisely<br />
definite. There appear a point <strong>and</strong> the other end of the<br />
arrow, without their unity it is impossible to represent an<br />
arrow. Not getting deep into the essence of these<br />
interpretations, we shall only point out, that inside this<br />
metaphor there appears quite another sense of the<br />
physical <strong>und</strong>erst<strong>and</strong>ing of time after Prigogine, or, to be<br />
more exact, after he changed the notion of cause. The<br />
arrow of time does not any longer show the direction<br />
between two past moments, as in classical knowledge. In<br />
order to create a simple transition of the process there,<br />
one had to establish its bo<strong>und</strong>ary conditions. To be more<br />
exact, one had to measure the process in two points of its<br />
history. It means that former points simply show the<br />
current of all. This is the position of Laplace. Nowadays we<br />
cannot say so. The lottery of bifurcational cases moves<br />
“the arrow” into the future. The point of the arrow is still<br />
indefinitely directed. The target is <strong>und</strong>erstood in another<br />
sense, not as a dot, but as an attractor. This is a great<br />
revolution, the introduction of the heuristic status of the<br />
future.<br />
As a result of the acceleration of social development<br />
dynamics there is an increase not only in the amount of<br />
innovations <strong>and</strong> time capacity but also in our existence in<br />
transitivity, instability, which intensifies our strive for<br />
stability, our conservative mood. Modern conservatism<br />
aims at compensating stability absence but not at<br />
hampering development. It is a way of thinking <strong>and</strong><br />
behavior that emerges as a reaction to acceleration<br />
seizing all spheres of life <strong>and</strong> activity. It has a universal<br />
cultural <strong>and</strong> structural character, thus being different from<br />
the traditional social political conservatism. As “in the fast,<br />
constantly accelerating speed of the civilization there is no<br />
past <strong>and</strong> no future, no way to eternity” [1.pg.169], the<br />
necessity of the way to it causes structural conservatism<br />
which first of all becomes apparent in turning to classics<br />
[4.p.106]. Turning to classics as to the way of interpretation<br />
<strong>and</strong> realization of your time acquires greater importance in<br />
connection with the increasing gap between temporariness<br />
<strong>and</strong> timelessness. But only their ,unity gives man a chance<br />
to find his time <strong>and</strong> consequently his being. According to<br />
Gadamer “the task is to learn to percept this timelessness<br />
in connection with time, for they essentially interact” [2.<br />
p.167].<br />
The idea of conservation at the end of the 20 th<br />
century expresses the idea of stability, but not in the sense<br />
of stagnation, but mainly in the sense of conscious selfregulation,<br />
the realization of stability <strong>and</strong> instability. The<br />
indefinite future, aggravated by the acute ecological<br />
situation, makes one interpret the problem of mankind<br />
preservation in terms of self-restriction, self-catching, not in<br />
the meaning of asceticism or suspension of some<br />
parameters, for example, of population (“ecological<br />
pessimism”), but in the meaning of safe development precautions.<br />
In the 20 th century there appears the<br />
<strong>und</strong>erst<strong>and</strong>ing of stability as being fragile <strong>and</strong> precious,<br />
<strong>and</strong> there arises the problem of its acquisition in the<br />
changing world. Existentialism with its tragic realization of<br />
finiteness <strong>and</strong> fragility of existence in its essence contradicts<br />
the total unreflective acceleration, which destroys the<br />
true existence. The crisis of identity <strong>and</strong> instability, caused<br />
by the accelerating development, brings forth the<br />
reanimation <strong>and</strong> actualization of the “church time”.<br />
A dramatic coexistence of enthusiasm for speed<br />
(striving for the future) <strong>and</strong> fear of it, fear of the future,<br />
which is increased by the feeling of the loss of not only the<br />
past <strong>and</strong> present but also of the future swiftly turning into<br />
the past, determines the contradictory character of the<br />
perception of the world in the contemporary epoch.<br />
Nervousness, impassivity, dynamics go alongside with<br />
inner devastation, confusion <strong>and</strong> the feeling of being<br />
restless <strong>and</strong> ab<strong>and</strong>oned. The problem of the way of finding<br />
your own time becomes one of the central problems of the<br />
present transitional epoch. It is transformed into the<br />
problem of historical self-identification, of finding your own<br />
time, which means finding your own being <strong>and</strong> your own<br />
God. That is why it is not by chance that there can be<br />
observed an intensification of reflectivity in the culture of<br />
the 20 th century, which penetrates all its spheres. Hence<br />
turning to your past (comprehending the past) <strong>and</strong> the<br />
future (projecting the future) appears a condition for selfactualization,<br />
realization of the responsibility to the history<br />
for your time, <strong>and</strong> consequently it becomes a way of<br />
historic self-realization. Thus, gaining responsibility is the<br />
best condition for gaining your time.