a) The Concept of Space and Time

p We have noted that every single material entity is part of matter. Being one of the infinite number of matter’s connections it occupies a definite place, possesses extension and correlates with the other material entities that surround it.

p The extension of material entities and the correlation of each of them with surrounding material entities is called space.

p Moreover, as has already been noted, every material entity is not eternal; it emerges as a result of changes in certain preceding material entities, passes through stages of development and then disappears by turning into other material entities.

The duration of the existence of material entities and the correlation of each of them with the preceding and subsequent material entities is called time.

b) A Critique of Idealist and Metaphysical Concepts
of Space and Time

p As a rule, idealists reject the objectivity of space and time and their independence from consciousness. Berkeley, for instance, believed that any place or extension existed in the spirit alone, like time which he regarded as a consecutive manifestation of ideas in our consciousness. Kant also rejected the objective existence of space and time. He regarded thenTas a form of inner sensation, 112 rather than a characteristic feature of things.

p Many modern bourgeois naturalists and philosophers do not accept the existence of space and time in the microworld either. They include, among others, James Jeans and A. Eddington, the latter saying that, for low-numbered states, “space and time do not exist, at least I can see no reason to believe that they do".  [112•1 

p Some philosophers recognise the existence of jpace and time, but they reject their connection with matter and take them as forms of being that are completely independent from matter’ This concept of space and time dates back to antiquity, specifically to the Pythagoreans. For them, space was a huge box filled with various things and numbers. It was absolutely independent of the latter and could exist without them. Democritus believed space to be a vacuum, while Aristotle regarded it as a place occupied consecutively by various things.

p The idea that space and time are independent of matter was developed in the classical jorm by Newton. He thought space to bp ahsnlntp, J> is eternal, constant and stable, and does not depend  on objecja^Objects, on the other hand, depend on space, exist in it, and move in relation to it. Time is treated by Newton in a similar way. It is also absolute, exists by itself, independently of particular events, flows evenly and always in the same manner.

p Descartes made an attempt to bridge the metaphysical gap between space and matter. By declaring extension to be the only and most important property of matter he, in fact, equated space with matter. Spinoza made one step further in the same direction. He regarded space as an attribute of matter. Locke, too, connected space with matter, regarding the former as the magnitude of bodies.

Though pre-Marxian philosophers tied up space with matter, they stopped short of understanding the dependence of spatial characteristics upon the nature of material entities. Moreover, they believed that space was the same for all bodies and that it possessed the same properties.

c) The Basic Characteristics of Space and Time

p Dialectical materialism provided a scientific solution to this problem. According to dialectical materialism, space and time are the necessary objective properties of any material entity and the objectively real forms of existence of matter. The extension and duration of being are not solely’the propertieT of stars, planets, and things (i.e. rnacrobodies), but also the properties ot microbodieT (i.e. “elementary” particles). Lenin wrote: There is nothing in the world but matter in motion, and matter in motion cannot move otherwise than in space and time.”  [113•1 

p Space and time are not only connected with 114 matter, but are also dependent upon it; they are determined by the nature of material entities and the form of motion inherent in them. This proposition of dialectical materialism is fully borne out by modern scientific data showing that spatial and temporal characteristics depend on the motion land distribution of gravitational masses. The greater is the force of gravitation, the more curved space is and the slower the flow of time. -.loreover, the theory of relativity shows that spatial correlations in a moving system shift as compared to a static system, a body flattens out in the direction of its movement, and the flow of time slackens.

p Space is three-dimensional, which is its major characteristic. 1} has three directions-right and left, up and down, and back and forth. All these directions are graphically shown by three mutually perpendicular lines. By moving parallel to them, one may locate any body in space.

p True, the physical theories of four-dimensional and multidimensional space have been developed recently. When scientists speak of a four- dimensional world, they take time as the fourth dimension. So arguments about four dimensions do not contradict reality but, at the same time, they do not disprove the proposition that space is threedimensional. On the contrary, these arguments stem from the above proposition. The same is true of multidimensional space. Saying that dimensions are multiple, physicists or mathematicians do not refer to the spatial characteristics of a body or, to be more precise, not only to spatial characteristics. 115 They have in mind the measurement of various properties of that body (a material entity), of which it has an infinite multitude. It follows then that an infinite multitude of dimensions is also possible. But does this disprove the theory of space as being three-dimensional? Of course not. It only proves that the concepts “four-dimensional space" and “multidimensional space" are used to characterise the various aspects and states of a material entity, rather than in their proper sense, i.e. to denote the properties of space.

p If space has three dimensions, time has only one. It always flows in one direction-forwards. The present becomes the past, and the future becomes the present. This direction cannot be changed-time is irreversible.

p Infinity is anOf majnt- r^arar^y^i;^ nf

p and time. Superficially, one may think that space ^nd time are finite, since they exist as the properties and relations of finite material entities. Actually, this is far from the truth. Though space and time exist in the form of finite things, they are infinite. The fact is that gysry frhing is tjed up with an infinite multitude of other things. Its spatial relations turn into the spatial relations of the other things that surround it. the spatial relations of the latter turn into the spatial relations ofthejhinqs that surround them, and so on ad infinitum. T,Vmg being a sum of finite magnitudes alone, space unfolds into infinity.

p The same holds true for time. Every particular thing has a beginning and an end of its existence. But it was preceded by an infinite number of other 116 things which will be followed bv others, this process going on ad infinitum.I]he-process of changing from some things or qualitative states to others has neither a beginning nor an end. Time will go on for ever.

p The infinity of space and time, it should be noted, is recognised by far from all philosophical schools. As a rule, theologians tie up the finity of the material world in time with God’s will, and idealists with the creative activity of consciousness which, while existing outside of space and time, gives birth to sensuous things that are spatially limited and finite in time.

p Some modern bourgeois scientists and philosophers refer to the theory of relativity when they try to prove that the world is limited in space. According to the relativity theory, the observed density of substance and the corresponding force of gravitation must lead to the existence of matter in the form of a closed sphere. This conclusion is made on the basis of the equations of the general theory of relativity, which presumes that matter is distributed evenly in space. The latestjmdings of astronomy. hoWf**^ gk™ **»t mat]^p Tg^ fetributed extremely unevenly in space.

p Attempts are also made to use the so-called “red shift" to prove that the world is finite in space and time. It has been established that a displacement- of ftis spprtral lines toward lEe^red colour is observed in light coming from the stars. This fact indicates that the observable part of the Universe is expanding and that galaxies are movmg away from each other at the speed of 120,000- 117 170,000 km/sec. Knowing this speed, one may calculate the time when this dispersing matter made up one whole. All this gave rise to theories arguing that the worlJ has originated from a Father-Atom created by God, that it is limited in space, and^Ojon!

This way of reasoning is based on the assumption that all the regularities observed in one part of the Universe must necessarily be observed in other parts of it. Actually, however, not all the regularities observed in one field of reality at a certain time are observed in its other fields. It is only the general laws studied bv philosophy that are universal. As regards other laws and regularities, they manitest themselves in one particular Held or part of the Universe at a given time, but this does not mean that they would necessarily be ’observed in another field. So the expansion of the observed part of the Universe in no way means that its other parts are also expanding at this mojnent. They may expand, or they may contract. It is more likely that processes of expansion and contraction are taking place in the Universe in equal measure, that one tendency is predominant in one part for a certain period of time and another tendency in another part. Then they change places./^