Abstract
In the beginning, there was no time or space; in their absence, there was void or chaos. The cosmologies constructed by the human mind — whether expressed as mythology, religion or contemporary physics — have posited a state of formlessness, or of nothing, prior to the existence of time and space. Albert Einstein, whose theory of relativity occasioned a re-conceptualisation of time and space in the early twentieth century, noted that ‘scientific thought is a development of prescientific thought. As the concept of space was already fundamental in the latter, we should begin with the concept of space in prescientific thought’.1 This insight pertains as well to prescientific concepts of time and to mythological accounts of the origin of time and space.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
F. T. Marinetti, ‘Initial Manifesto of Futurism’, in J. C Taylor (ed) Futurism, New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1961, p. 124.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 John Potts
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Potts, J. (2015). A Brief History of Time and Space. In: The New Time and Space. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137494382_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137494382_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57673-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-49438-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Media & Culture CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)