What is perceiving space? What is perceiving time? How do we become aware of the space around us that changes with the passage of time?
The conquest of space, and therefore the reality of a space larger than that directly accessible to our senses, begins with Pilâtre de Rozier and his hot-air balloon, continues with the airplane, the Sputnik, Gagarin in orbit and Armstrong on the moon. Mars is now in the line of fire: our "sensible" space is outdated.
Days were punctuated by the solar cycle before the water clock replaced the sundial. Watchmaking mechanics provided access to everyday precision. The atomic clock now allows GPS and travel in the sidereal void where time meets space with a precision that once again exceeds our limited sensitivity.
But what could a space and a time be that were thought of without these extensions of our senses?
What should we think of these notions of time and space today? We can, without a doubt, still conceive of many distinct things, but we are almost forced to consider as unrealistic the development of a philosophy which would not take into account the modifications induced by scientific approaches.
The aim of this work is to present some links which allow us to move from our sensible space-time to the space-time which bathes the universe and which we are only just beginning to think about.
Thus, the ambition of this book is not insignificant: to evoke some recent aspects of knowledge which have modified the limits of what a man is authorized to think nowadays when he bases his reflection on his intuitions of time and space.
These questions were considered important enough for Kant to discuss them at length in the first part of his Critique of Pure Reason .
Although some passages are more accessible to scientific readers, the main part is intended for the honest man curious about the present state of certain philosophical conceptions. The more calculative sections have been left at the end of the work in the form of appendices, and can therefore be omitted.
Let's admit it, the goal is not completely achieved and you will not have definitive answers upon arrival. But the journey is worth it.