相对论和时概念的重铸

G.W.Leibniz 认为,时间是事件的接续次序。这种时间观念与Newton和Kant 的相应观念比较,有较大的灵活性:它留下了时间间隔的长度,使后人得以按照需要来规定。由于注意到观察者在时序判断上的重要作用,Ponicare’和Einstein 对时间概念的理解达到了一个新的高度。其要点是,时间概念的两个侧面,即时序和绵延,都必须按照使自然规律表述得尽可能简单的要求来定义。相对论表明,所谓“并存次序”与“接续次序”不能脱离观察者,因而在协调各观察者的经验时,二者也不能彼此脱离地单独考虑。

RELATIVITY AND REMOLDING OF THE TIME CONCEPT

G.W. Leibniz believed that time is nothing but the order of successful events. The essential thing is the order, while the "length" of lime duration has not a definite rivalling. This idea has been carried forward by the theory relativity which shows that only the events recorded by the same clock have a definite order. It also gives the "length" of time a definite but relative meaning. But it is just the variety and the equivalency of the possible definitions of the "length" that emphasizes the artificial nature of the concept. Along the train of thought of Leibniz, the conclusion relativity proved resonablc and natural.