The Thermodynamic, Psychological And Cosmological Arrows Of Time Through Systemic Functional Linguistics [1]

Hawking (1988: 145):

The increase of disorder or entropy with time is one example of what is called an arrow of time, something that distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time. There are at least three different arrows of time. First, there is the thermodynamic arrow of time, the direction of time in which disorder or entropy increases. Then, there is the psychological arrow of time. This is the direction in which we feel time passes, the direction in which we remember the past but not the future. Finally, there is the cosmological arrow of time. This is the direction of time in which the universe is expanding rather than contracting.

In this chapter I shall argue that the no boundary condition for the universe, together with the weak anthropic principle, can explain why all three arrows point in the same direction — and moreover, why a well-defined arrow of time should exist at all. I shall argue that the psychological arrow is determined by the thermodynamic arrow, and that these two arrows necessarily always point in the same direction. If one assumes the no boundary condition for the universe, we shall see that there must be well-defined thermodynamic and cosmological arrows of time, but they will not point in the same direction for the whole history of the universe. However, I shall argue that it is only when they do point in the same direction that conditions are suitable for the development of intelligent beings who can ask the question: why does disorder increase in the same direction of time as that in which the universe expands? 

Blogger Comments:

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, the reason that time has a direction is simply because it is the dimension of the unfolding of processes. In this view, there is only one direction that the arrow of time can point. The thermodynamic arrow of time is the dimension of the unfolding of material processes that lead from order to disorder. The psychological arrow of time is the dimension of the unfolding of mental (and verbal) processes. The cosmological arrow of time is the dimension of the unfolding of the relational processes of spatial expansion.