SPACE, TIME AND SCIENCE

Volume XII, the last one in the structure of this Opera Omnia, includes articles and books, dealing with science, that were published in the early years of my production. Even though their contents and style may now sound quite outdated, I nonetheless decided to insert them here as a reminder of that period and the issues I was then interested in. In particular the prologue, “Synthetic Visions of the Universe”, is remarkably outdated, but it presents some insights which I still consider meaningful.
The theme of this book starts with the conception of time linked to the scientific vision of reality. Omnia tempus habent (All things have a time of their own) This time is not something which envelops the being externally, but an integral and specific dimension of each being, which is insofar as it lasts, and it lasts precisely because it is this particular being and not another. The time of the technological civilization has caused a profound conflict within Man by altering his life rhythm. Should Man refuse technology or, on the contrary, reinforce it and be integrated in progress? This is an inescapable conflict.
At this point it should be noted that technology has an ontonomic nature, and therefore an intrinsic relationship both with the world and with Man. In fact, the relationship between Man and technology is as deep and intimate as that between technology and nature. Man generates technology by starting from nature. Technology is originally produced by Man’s interest in the earth and matter. Et tempus non erit amplius (And time will be no longer).
The volume is made up of two sections, although the contents are constantly interwoven. The first section concerns time and space, which is a subject that forms the basis of a vision of reality not only from a philosophical point of view but also from a scientific one. Because the subject of time is perceived differently from western and eastern viewpoints, the articles have been divided: the eastern vision underscores the aspect which is more closely linked to Being, while the western one is more linear, with a beginning and an end, an alpha and an omega.

INDEX OF ORIGINAL TEXTS IN VOLUME XII

“Prologue—A Synthetic Vision of The Universe.” Original article: “Visiòn de sintesis del universe.” In Arbor 1 (1944); then in Humanismo y Cruz (Madrid: Rialp, 1963). Translated by Carla Ros.

“Time and History in the Tradition.” Original article: “Temps et histoire dans la tradition de l’Inde.” In Les cultures et le temps (Paris: Payot-UNESCO, 1975), 75ff.; then in English as “Time and History in the Tradition of India: Kala and Karma,” in Cultures and Time (Paris: Payot–UNESCO, 1976), 63–68.

“Toward a Typology of Time and Temporality in the Ancient Indic Tradition.” Philosophy East and West 24, no. 2 (April 1974).

“Time and Sacrifice: The Sacrifice of Time and the Ritual of Modernity.” In J. T. Fraser, N. Lawrence, and D. Park, eds., The Study of Time, vol. III (New York: Springer, 1978), 683–727.

“Circular Time: Temporization and Temporality.” Original article: “Le temps circulaire: Temporisation et temporalité.” In Temporalité et Alienation, ed. E. Castelli (Paris: Aubier, 1975), with a small part from a previous article in Spanish: “El presente tempiterno. Una postilla a la historia de la salvación y a la teologia de la liberación.” In Vargas Machuka, Teologia y mundo contemporaneo. Homage a Karl Rahner (Madrid: Cristiandad, 1975).

“Kālaśakti: The Power of Time.” In Kapila Vatsyayan, ed., Concepts of Time, Ancient and Modern (New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts–Sterling, 1996).

“The End of History.” Italian version presented by the author in Seminario dei “Quaderni di psicoterapia infantile,” L’esperienza del tempo (Assisi) 26/27, no. 9 (1981), based on the English text published in T. King, ed., Teilhard de Chardin and the Unity of Knowledge.

“The Mirage of the Future.” Convergence (Fribourg) nos. 3–4: 3–6. “The Future Does Not Come Later.” Original article: “Die Zukunft kommt nicht später,” in Vom Sinn der Tradition (Munich: Hrsg. L. Reinisch, Beck, 1970), 53–64.

“There Is No Outer Space without Inner Space.” In Concepts of Space, Ancient and Modern, ed. K. Vatsyayan (New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1991). “Max Planck (1858–1947).” Arbor (Madrid) 24 (1947): 387–406.

Ontonomy of Science. Original text: Ontonomia de la Ciencia. Sobre el sentido de la ciencia y sus relaciones con la filosofia (Madrid: Gredos, 1961). The Narrow Door of Knowledge: Sense, Reason and Faith. Original text: La Porta stretta della Conoscenza (Milan: Rizzoli, 2005); reviewed by the author in La puerta estrecha del conocimiento (Barcelona: Herder, 2009).

“The Ambiguity of Science.” Original text in L’Altrapagina (Città di Castello) (1992).

“Technocentrism: Some Theses on Technology.” Original article: “El tecnocentrisme: algunes tesis sobre tecnologia.” In A. Merrier, cur., Philosophie et Technique (Institut International de Philosophie, 1984), 61–72; enlarged in La nueva Innocència (Barcelona: Proa, 1998).

“Emancipation from Technology.” Original text: “L’emancipation de la technologie.” Inter- culture (Montreal) 85: 22–37.

“The Cosmic Evolution.” Text of the conference at the Teilhard Centre for the Future of Man, London, 1990; then published in Teilhard Review 25, no. 3: 61–71.