Abstract

The text proposes some directions of research, as based on previous works made by the author. Our purpose is to discuss the contribution of general relativity to the epistemology of space and time, in the context of a relational, and not substantial, rationality. General relativity brings us the important idea (of a relational nature) that space and time do not constitute a scene external to phenomena, but that, on the contrary, the phenomena themselves, in the first place the phenomenon of gravitation, are responsible for assessing the corresponding variables. However, this contribution does not make us progress on the "mystery" of time, that remains conceptually separated from space, even though, since the relativity theory, the values of space and time variables are related. Encouraged by general relativity, we must go further and express more strongly the link between the concepts of space and time, and their identity of substance. The relational approach must extend to all phenomena (beyond the phenomenon of gravitation alone), and we must see time and space as defined together by the mobility / immobility relations induced by the comparison between different phenomena. This approach renews a number of questions, both on how to talk about space and time in general relativity and on the relations of this theory with other domains like quantum mechanics. But also on the conceptual loops found in the theory, and even finding a convergence with Humanities and Social Sciences (especially mesology / ecology) in the way these understand and criticize the notions of space and time as too much abstracted (disconnected from phenomena and human observers).