Q&A: Kant, Einstein, and Free Choice
Kant, Einstein, and Free Choice
Question
Have a good week!
I’d be glad to ask several questions on the topic of time as a fourth dimension.
1- Einstein discovered that time is subjective, and therefore for a person who flies at nearly the speed of light, changes in him will happen more slowly and less extensively than in his identical twin. But even so, he will still experience his own subjective time just like the brother who remains in a normal state.
So the question is: doesn’t this apparently prove that there is consciousness? After all, even though physical time affects him more slowly, experiential time will nevertheless be different?
2- Besides the previous innovation, Einstein also claimed that time is a fourth dimension, meaning that time does not pass and disappear, but rather everything exists simultaneously, and each time only a different segment of the dimension is revealed to the observer.
I’d be glad for an explanation of what the connection is between this innovation and the previous one, and whether there is some assumption that links the two to each other (that’s an innocent question).
3- If time is a dimension, then why is it possible to choose which direction to go only in space and not along the time axis, if both are dimensions?
4- Another innocent question: what was added by Einstein’s innovation that time is a dimension beyond what Kant said, that time is a category of thought? After all, these two concepts seem to claim the same thing—that time does not exist in material reality, but is rather a way for the observer to perceive parts of reality (like a cartoon film in which all the frames exist, and the person merely sees them in a certain order).
5- If time is a dimension, then it comes out that everything exists in the present, and only the observer sees things in a specific order. If so, then it is difficult to understand how free choice is possible.
Note that I’m not asking from the angle of determinism, but from the angle that everything already exists (maybe this is connected to Maimonides’ discussion of divine knowledge and free choice, but my question is a bit different—not from the side of knowledge that exists, but from the side of existence itself in time-space)?
Thank you very much!
Answer
- I didn’t understand the question. Is there any doubt that we have consciousness? Is there any doubt that different states affect consciousness? Does anyone dispute that when I’m under pressure, time passes slowly, for example?
- You need to study the theory of relativity.
- You can choose in time too, within certain limits. There is a difference between time and space even though they are four dimensions.
- There is no fundamental connection between the two. One can say that space-time is a four-dimensional space even if space and time belonged to the noumena. As for the contraction of time and space, there were indeed those who remarked that this is a confirmation of Kant’s thesis. But I’m not sure about that, since the time being discussed is not necessarily the time that we experience. I touched on this a bit in Column 33.
- I didn’t understand the question. First, there is no meaning to the statement that everything exists “now.” “Now” is a temporal concept. Second, what does this have to do with free choice? My choice too always existed “forever” (whatever exactly that may mean).
Generally speaking, I’d say that many people talk about the dispute between Einstein and Bergson regarding time. Bergson saw it as flowing, and Einstein conceived it as static. In my opinion these are just word games, unless you translate this into the framework of Column 33, and that is not the place to elaborate.