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Time, Relativity, and the Spatiality of Mental Events

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Language, Quantum, Music

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 281))

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Abstract

Sellars once wrote that “ ‘the problem of time’ is rivaled only by the ‘mind-body problem’ in the extent to which it inexorably brings into play all the major concerns of philosophy” (1971, 527). Considering that time plays a major role both in our inner life and in the description of the outer world, one could suggest that two problems are deeply related: our progress in understanding bits of the problem of time might shed light into the mind-body problem and viceversa.1 In this paper, I will test the plausibility of this suggestion, by focusing on a fundamental aspect of the relationship between the ‘time of physics’ and the ‘time of mind’, namely the problem of their compatibility.2

Henceforth, space by itself and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union between the two will preserve an independent reality.

H. Minkowski

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Dorato, M. (1999). Time, Relativity, and the Spatiality of Mental Events. In: Chiara, M.L.D., Giuntini, R., Laudisa, F. (eds) Language, Quantum, Music. Synthese Library, vol 281. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2043-4_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2043-4_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5229-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2043-4

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