Spacetime

Abstract

Science takes space and time for granted. Although not every scientific theory makes detailed assumptions about space and time, these two are usually regarded as constituting an independently existing framework allowing one to locate things and date events. So much so that facts are said to be or to happen in space and time even when we do not care for their precise spatiotemporal characteristics. So much are space and time taken for granted in science that most descriptions of things are effected in terms of space or time — i.e. space and time coordinates are used as independent variables. Moreover space and time are usually regarded as external to things and their changes: they are taken to constitute a fixed scenario.