Space
Space is a
In the 19th and 20th centuries mathematicians began to examine geometries that are
Philosophy of space
Debates concerning the nature, essence and the mode of existence of space date back to antiquity; namely, to treatises like the
Galileo
Galilean and Cartesian theories about space, matter, and motion are at the foundation of the Scientific Revolution, which is understood to have culminated with the publication of Newton's Principia Mathematica in 1687.[6] Newton's theories about space and time helped him explain the movement of objects. While his theory of space is considered the most influential in physics, it emerged from his predecessors' ideas about the same.[7]
As one of the pioneers of
René Descartes
The Cartesian notion of space is closely linked to his theories about the nature of the body, mind and matter. He is famously known for his "cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am), or the idea that we can only be certain of the fact that we can doubt, and therefore think and therefore exist. His theories belong to the rationalist tradition, which attributes knowledge about the world to our ability to think rather than to our experiences, as the empiricists believe.[10] He posited a clear distinction between the body and mind, which is referred to as the Cartesian dualism.
Leibniz and Newton
Following Galileo and Descartes, during the seventeenth century the
Newton took space to be more than relations between material objects and based his position on
Kant
In the eighteenth century the German philosopher
Non-Euclidean geometry
Type of geometry | Number of parallels | Sum of angles in a triangle | Ratio of circumference to diameter of circle | Measure of curvature |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hyperbolic | Infinite | < 180° | > π | < 0 |
Euclidean | 1 | 180° | π | 0 |
Elliptical | 0 | > 180° | < π | > 0 |
Gauss and Poincaré
Although there was a prevailing Kantian consensus at the time, once non-Euclidean geometries had been formalised, some began to wonder whether or not physical space is curved. Carl Friedrich Gauss, a German mathematician, was the first to consider an empirical investigation of the geometrical structure of space. He thought of making a test of the sum of the angles of an enormous stellar triangle, and there are reports that he actually carried out a test, on a small scale, by triangulating mountain tops in Germany.[20]
Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and physicist of the late 19th century, introduced an important insight in which he attempted to demonstrate the futility of any attempt to discover which geometry applies to space by experiment.[21] He considered the predicament that would face scientists if they were confined to the surface of an imaginary large sphere with particular properties, known as a sphere-world. In this world, the temperature is taken to vary in such a way that all objects expand and contract in similar proportions in different places on the sphere. With a suitable falloff in temperature, if the scientists try to use measuring rods to determine the sum of the angles in a triangle, they can be deceived into thinking that they inhabit a plane, rather than a spherical surface.[22] In fact, the scientists cannot in principle determine whether they inhabit a plane or sphere and, Poincaré argued, the same is true for the debate over whether real space is Euclidean or not. For him, which geometry was used to describe space was a matter of convention.[23] Since Euclidean geometry is simpler than non-Euclidean geometry, he assumed the former would always be used to describe the 'true' geometry of the world.[24]
Einstein
In 1905,
Subsequently, Einstein worked on a
Mathematics
In modern mathematics
Physics
Part of a series on |
Classical mechanics |
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Space is one of the few
Today, our
Relativity
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Before
In addition, time and space dimensions should not be viewed as exactly equivalent in Minkowski space. One can freely move in space but not in time. Thus, time and space coordinates are treated differently both in special relativity (where time is sometimes considered an imaginary coordinate) and in general relativity (where different signs are assigned to time and space components of spacetime metric).
Furthermore, in
One consequence of this postulate, which follows from the equations of general relativity, is the prediction of moving ripples of spacetime, called
Cosmology
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Relativity theory leads to the cosmological question of what shape the universe is, and where space came from. It appears that space was created in the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago[29] and has been expanding ever since. The overall shape of space is not known, but space is known to be expanding very rapidly due to the cosmic inflation.
Spatial measurement
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The measurement of physical space has long been important. Although earlier societies had developed measuring systems, the
Currently, the standard space interval, called a standard meter or simply meter, is defined as the
Geographical space
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Geography is the branch of science concerned with identifying and describing places on Earth, utilizing spatial awareness to try to understand why things exist in specific locations. Cartography is the mapping of spaces to allow better navigation, for visualization purposes and to act as a locational device. Geostatistics apply statistical concepts to collected spatial data of Earth to create an estimate for unobserved phenomena.
Geographical space is often considered as land, and can have a relation to
Ownership of space is not restricted to land. Ownership of airspace and of waters is decided internationally. Other forms of ownership have been recently asserted to other spaces—for example to the radio bands of the electromagnetic spectrum or to cyberspace.
Public space is a term used to define areas of land as collectively owned by the community, and managed in their name by delegated bodies; such spaces are open to all, while private property is the land culturally owned by an individual or company, for their own use and pleasure.
In psychology
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Psychologists first began to study the way space is perceived in the middle of the 19th century. Those now concerned with such studies regard it as a distinct branch of psychology. Psychologists analyzing the perception of space are concerned with how recognition of an object's physical appearance or its interactions are perceived, see, for example, visual space.
Other, more specialized topics studied include
Several space-related phobias have been identified, including agoraphobia (the fear of open spaces), astrophobia (the fear of celestial space) and claustrophobia (the fear of enclosed spaces).
The understanding of three-dimensional space in humans is thought to be learned during infancy using
In the social sciences
Space has been studied in the social sciences from the perspectives of Marxism, feminism, postmodernism, postcolonialism, urban theory and critical geography. These theories account for the effect of the history of colonialism, transatlantic slavery and globalization on our understanding and experience of space and place. The topic has garnered attention since the 1980s, after the publication of Henri Lefebvre's The Production of Space . In this book, Lefebvre applies Marxist ideas about the production of commodities and accumulation of capital to discuss space as a social product. His focus is on the multiple and overlapping social processes that produce space.[30]
In his book The Condition of Postmodernity,
In his book Thirdspace, Edward Soja describes space and spatiality as an integral and neglected aspect of what he calls the "trialectics of being," the three modes that determine how we inhabit, experience and understand the world. He argues that critical theories in the Humanities and Social Sciences study the historical and social dimensions of our lived experience, neglecting the spatial dimension.[33] He builds on Henri Lefebvre's work to address the dualistic way in which humans understand space—as either material/physical or as represented/imagined. Lefebvre's "lived space"[34] and Soja's "thirdspace" are terms that account for the complex ways in which humans understand and navigate place, which "firstspace" and "Secondspace" (Soja's terms for material and imagined spaces respectively) do not fully encompass.
Postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha's concept of Third Space is different from Soja's Thirdspace, even though both terms offer a way to think outside the terms of a binary logic. Bhabha's Third Space is the space in which hybrid cultural forms and identities exist. In his theories, the term hybrid describes new cultural forms that emerge through the interaction between colonizer and colonized.[35]
See also
- State space (physics)
- Absolute space and time
- Aether theories
- Cosmology
- General relativity
- Philosophy of space and time
- Proxemics
- Shape of the universe
- Social space
- Space exploration
- Spacetime (mathematics)
- Spatial analysis
- Spatial–temporal reasoning
References
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- (PDF) from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
- ^ Carnap, R. (1995). An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. New York: Dove. (Original edition: Philosophical Foundations of Physics. New York: Basic books, 1966).
- Descartes' and Leibniz's 17th century notions of extensio and analysis situs, and his own mathematical refutation of Aristotle's definition of topos in natural philosophy, refer to: Nader El-Bizri, "In Defence of the Sovereignty of Philosophy: al-Baghdadi's Critique of Ibn al-Haytham's Geometrisation of Place", Arabic Sciences and Philosophy (Cambridge University Press), Vol. 17 (2007), pp. 57–80.
- ^ French, A.J.; Ebison, M.G. (1986). Introduction to Classical Mechanics. Dordrecht: Springer, p. 1.
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- ^ Dainton, Barry (2014). Time and Space. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 164.
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- ^ Leibniz, Fifth letter to Samuel Clarke. By H.G. Alexander (1956). The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 55–96.
- ^ Vailati, E. (1997). Leibniz & Clarke: A Study of Their Correspondence. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 115.
- ^ Sklar, L. (1992). Philosophy of Physics. Boulder: Westview Press, p. 20.
- ^ Sklar, L. Philosophy of Physics. p. 21.
- ^ Sklar, L. Philosophy of Physics. p. 22.
- ^ "Newton's bucket". st-and.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 17 March 2008. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
- ^ Carnap, R. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. pp. 177–178.
- ISBN 978-0-19-875057-4.
- ^ Carnap, R. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. p. 126.
- ^ Carnap, R. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. pp. 134–136.
- ^ Jammer, Max (1954). Concepts of Space. The History of Theories of Space in Physics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p. 165.
- index of refractioncould also be used to bend the path of light and again deceive the scientists if they attempt to use light to map out their geometry.
- ^ Carnap, R. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. p. 148.
- ^ Sklar, L. Philosophy of Physics. p. 57.
- ^ Sklar, L. Philosophy of Physics. p. 43.
- ISBN 0-7167-6034-7
- ^ Castelvecchi, Davide; Witze, Alexandra (11 February 2016). "Einstein's gravitational waves found at last". Nature News. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
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- "Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger" (PDF). LIGO Scientific Collaboration.
- ^ "Cosmic Detectives". The European Space Agency (ESA). 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 5 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
- ^ Stanek, Lukasz (2011). Henri Lefebvre on Space: Architecture, Urban Research, and the Production of Theory. Univ of Minnesota Press. pp. ix.
- ^ "Time-Space Compression – Geography – Oxford Bibliographies – obo". Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
- ^ Harvey, David (2001). Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 244–246.
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