时间的哲学概观

Time: A Philosophical Survey

时间是“一切存在的基本形式”,是存在的根本条件。任何事物的运动(包括思维和心理过程)都具有一定的发展顺序和持续过程,时间就是反映事物运动、变化和发展过程的顺序性和持续性的科学和哲学范畴。把时间观念放到重要的位置上,这是现代文明的显著特征。当代哲学所以对时间问题表现出强烈的兴趣,有两方面原因:一是传统的时间和宇宙概念业已受到相对论等现代科学的猛烈冲击;二是急剧的社会变动使不少哲学家把人的问题、存在的历史真实性问题视为哲学的中心问题。分别受这两方面的影响。

Time is basic form of being or basic condition for the anything whatever both matter and mental. As a basic understanding of being, the idea of time is an essential ingredient of all human knowledge. In this article, the evolution of idea of time in the history of Chinese and Western thought is presented. Some main views about time are reviewed, including that of cycle and one-way, finitude and infinitude, relation and absoluteness, as well as the views from process philosophy and philosophy of the manifold.