Spacetime Holism and the Passage of Time

The most fascinating of the riddles of time is the so-called passage of time which, however, is not accounted for by natural science. In this contribution, we suggest an approach to the phenomena of time which aims at explaining why time passes for us. The basis for our investigation is a fundamental distinction between two views. Science can be understood as an attempt to construct a God-like, outside view of the world we live in. However, all our experiences and measurements take place inside this world, and are results of interactions between an observer and the thing observed. The suggested outside view from which we tackle the problems of time is radical. The universe is seen as one spacetime whole which cannot be divided into fully describable parts. For the analysis of the spacetime whole, a concept of complexity is introduced which is built upon the notions of continuity and discontinuity. On its basis, a very general duality relation between two aspects of space-time structure is formulated. The outside view can be related to the inside view by assuming that continuity (in space or time) goes hand in hand with experienced identification (in space or time). This move, together with an assumption concerning the relation of structural containment, makes it possible to understand the passage of time – as it is experienced by the inside observer – from the viewpoint of an outside observer.