Home – Home – Jornals – Philosophy of Sciences 2023 number 1

The article proves in a fundamentally new way the reasons for the unidirectionality and asymmetry of the arrow of objective time, which are considered from the perspective of the functional concept of time developed by the author. According to the functional concept, the arrow of time, like objective time, is formed by a successive change in qualitatively new states of a material object or process. Since objective time is formed only by concrete and finite objects, it is always local. The arrow of time, like objective time, is non-substantial, is not a physical entity, and therefore is irreversible. Since the arrow of objective time is irreversible, it is directed only forward. Therefore, the arrow of objective time is unidirectional. In nature, only the present exists, while the past and the future do not exist in nature, but appear only in the observer’s mind. And so, the arrow of time, like objective time, moves from the present to the next present, and not from the past to the future, as is it generally believed in science. Accordingly, the arrow of objective time is asymmetric. Objective time is formed only by concrete and finite objects or processes, while the Universe is uncreatable and indestructible and exists eternally. For this reason, the concept of time and the concept of the arrow of time do not apply to it. The concepts of objective time and the arrow of objective time would apply to the Universe, if it pulsed and the cycles of its expansion and compression completely repeated all its inherent possibilities to change. The article also discusses the possibilities of using the concept of objective, functional time in practice.