Understanding Time Through Systemic Functional Linguistics

Davies & Gribbin (1992: 132, 133):

Although the great weight of scientific and philosophical argument is on the B-theorists, and against the objective reality of a moving present, it seems impossible to shrug the matter aside. Surely there must be some aspect of time that we do not yet understand, and which surfaces in a muddled and incomplete way in our perception of a moving present moment? …

Unsatisfactory though it may be, we have to admit defeat in our attempt to decide what time is, and to make do with our everyday images of the flow of time in trying to describe the origin and ultimate fate of the Universe. This very admission of defeat is, however, in itself one more indication of the need for a post-Newtonian paradigm, a sign that there is more to the Universe than our established scientific theories can yet encompass.

Blogger Comments:

As previously explained, the notion of an 'objective reality' beyond semiotic systems is invalidated by the experiments of quantum physics which demonstrate that 'reality' is meaning construed of experience, as in the act of observing. From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory, reality is not 'objective', but intersubjectively construed.

As previously explained, the meaning of 'time' can be clarified by viewing it through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistic Theory. This perspective provides a clear distinction between time and process, which are confused in the discourse of physics, and identifies the present moment as a point of reference on the time axis defined by the location in time of a process of making meaning.

As previously explained, the post-Newtonian paradigm is the immanent view of meaning provided and validated by quantum physics. In this view, scientific theories are open-ended evolving semiotic systems. The notion of scientific theories 'encompassing' the Universe, on the other hand, takes the transcendent view of meaning, assuming that the domain outside semiotic systems is pre-categorised, independent of semiotic systems.