Space is the boundless
three-dimensional
Three-dimensional space (also: 3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a geometric setting in which three values (called '' parameters'') are required to determine the position of an element (i.e., point). This is the inform ...
extent in which
objects
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an ai ...
and events have relative
position and
direction. In
classical physics
Classical physics is a group of physics theories that predate modern, more complete, or more widely applicable theories. If a currently accepted theory is considered to be modern, and its introduction represented a major paradigm shift, then the ...
, physical space is often conceived in three
linear dimensions, although
modern physicist
Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity and general ...
s usually consider it, with
time, to be part of a boundless
four-dimensional continuum known as
spacetime. The concept of space is considered to be of fundamental importance to an understanding of the physical
universe. However, disagreement continues between
philosophers over whether it is itself an entity, a relationship between entities, or part of a
conceptual framework
A conceptual framework is an analytical tool with several variations and contexts. It can be applied in different categories of work where an overall picture is needed. It is used to make conceptual distinctions and organize ideas. Strong concept ...
.
Debates concerning the nature, essence and the mode of existence of space date back to antiquity; namely, to treatises like the ''
Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
* Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Gree ...
'' of
Plato, or
Socrates in his reflections on what the Greeks called ''
khôra
''Khôra'' (also ''chora''; grc, χώρα) was the territory of the Ancient Greek '' polis'' outside the city proper. The term has been used in philosophy by Plato to designate a receptacle (as a "third kind" 'triton genos'' ''Timaeus'' 48e4), a ...
'' (i.e. "space"), or in the ''
Physics'' of
Aristotle (Book IV, Delta) in the definition of ''topos'' (i.e. place), or in the later "geometrical conception of place" as "space ''qua'' extension" in the ''Discourse on Place'' (''Qawl fi al-Makan'') of the 11th-century Arab
polymath Alhazen
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the prin ...
. Many of these classical philosophical questions were discussed in the
Renaissance and then reformulated in the 17th century, particularly during the early development of
classical mechanics
Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery, and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical m ...
. In
Isaac Newton's view, space was absolute—in the sense that it existed permanently and independently of whether there was any matter in the space. Other
natural philosophers, notably
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mat ...
, thought instead that space was in fact a collection of relations between objects, given by their
distance
Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects or points are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). ...
and
direction from one another. In the 18th century, the philosopher and theologian
George Berkeley attempted to refute the "visibility of spatial depth" in his ''Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision''. Later, the
metaphysic
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
ian
Immanuel Kant said that the concepts of space and time are not empirical ones derived from experiences of the outside world—they are elements of an already given systematic framework that humans possess and use to structure all experiences. Kant referred to the experience of "space" in his ''
Critique of Pure Reason'' as being a subjective "pure ''
a priori
("from the earlier") and ("from the later") are Latin phrases used in philosophy to distinguish types of knowledge, justification, or argument by their reliance on empirical evidence or experience. knowledge is independent from current ex ...
'' form of intuition".
In the 19th and 20th centuries mathematicians began to examine geometries that are
non-Euclidean, in which space is conceived as ''curved'', rather than ''flat''. According to
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's theory of
general relativity, space around
gravitational fields deviates from Euclidean space. Experimental
tests of general relativity have confirmed that non-Euclidean geometries provide a better model for the shape of space.
Philosophy of space
Galileo
Galilean
Generically, a Galilean (; he, גלילי; grc, Γαλιλαίων; la, Galilaeos) is an inhabitant of Galilee, a region of Israel surrounding the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret). The New Testament notes that the Apostle Peter's accent gave him ...
and
Cartesian theories about space, matter, and motion are at the foundation of the
Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transforme ...
, which is understood to have culminated with the publication of
Newton's ''
Principia'' in 1687.
Newton's theories about space and time helped him explain the movement of objects. While his theory of space is considered the most influential in Physics, it emerged from his predecessors' ideas about the same.
As one of the pioneers of
modern science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal.
Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...
, Galileo revised the established
Aristotelian and
Ptolemaic ideas about a
geocentric cosmos. He backed the
Copernican theory that the universe was
heliocentric, with a stationary sun at the center and the planets—including the Earth—revolving around the sun. If the Earth moved, the Aristotelian belief that its natural tendency was to remain at rest was in question. Galileo wanted to prove instead that the sun moved around its axis, that motion was as natural to an object as the state of rest. In other words, for Galileo, celestial bodies, including the Earth, were naturally inclined to move in circles. This view displaced another Aristotelian idea—that all objects gravitated towards their designated natural place-of-belonging.
René Descartes
Descartes set out to replace the Aristotelian worldview with a theory about space and motion as determined by
natural law
Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacted ...
s. In other words, he sought a
metaphysical foundation or a
mechanical
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations ...
explanation for his theories about matter and motion.
Cartesian space
A Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular oriented lines, measured in ...
was
Euclidean in structure—infinite, uniform and flat. It was defined as that which contained matter; conversely, matter by definition had a spatial extension so that there was no such thing as empty space.
The Cartesian notion of space is closely linked to his theories about the nature of the body, mind and matter. He is famously known for his "cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am), or the idea that we can only be certain of the fact that we can doubt, and therefore think and therefore exist. His theories belong to the
rationalist tradition, which attributes knowledge about the world to our ability to think rather than to our experiences, as the
empiricists
In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological theory that holds that knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empir ...
believe. He posited a clear distinction between the body and mind, which is referred to as the
Cartesian dualism Cartesian means of or relating to the French philosopher René Descartes—from his Latinized name ''Cartesius''. It may refer to:
Mathematics
*Cartesian closed category, a closed category in category theory
*Cartesian coordinate system, modern ...
.
Leibniz and Newton
Following Galileo and Descartes, during the seventeenth century the
philosophy of space and time
Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology and epistemology of space and time. While such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception, the philosophy of space and time wa ...
revolved around the ideas of
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mat ...
, a German philosopher–mathematician, and
Isaac Newton, who set out two opposing theories of what space is. Rather than being an entity that independently exists over and above other matter, Leibniz held that space is no more than the collection of spatial relations between objects in the world: "space is that which results from places taken together". Unoccupied regions are those that ''could'' have objects in them, and thus spatial relations with other places. For Leibniz, then, space was an idealised
abstraction
Abstraction in its main sense is a conceptual process wherein general rules and concepts are derived from the usage and classification of specific examples, literal ("real" or "concrete") signifiers, first principles, or other methods.
"An abst ...
from the relations between individual entities or their possible locations and therefore could not be
continuous
Continuity or continuous may refer to:
Mathematics
* Continuity (mathematics), the opposing concept to discreteness; common examples include
** Continuous probability distribution or random variable in probability and statistics
** Continuous g ...
but must be
discrete.
Space could be thought of in a similar way to the relations between family members. Although people in the family are related to one another, the relations do not exist independently of the people.
Leibniz argued that space could not exist independently of objects in the world because that implies a difference between two universes exactly alike except for the location of the material world in each universe. But since there would be no observational way of telling these universes apart then, according to the
identity of indiscernibles, there would be no real difference between them. According to the
principle of sufficient reason, any theory of space that implied that there could be these two possible universes must therefore be wrong.
Newton took space to be more than relations between material objects and based his position on
observation
Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. Th ...
and experimentation. For a
relationist there can be no real difference between
inertial motion, in which the object travels with constant
velocity, and
non-inertial motion, in which the velocity changes with time, since all spatial measurements are relative to other objects and their motions. But Newton argued that since non-inertial motion generates
forces, it must be absolute. He used the example of
water in a spinning bucket to demonstrate his argument. Water in a
bucket
A bucket is typically a watertight, vertical cylinder or truncated cone or square, with an open top and a flat bottom, attached to a semicircular carrying handle called the '' bail''.
A bucket is usually an open-top container. In contrast, a ...
is hung from a rope and set to spin, starts with a flat surface. After a while, as the bucket continues to spin, the surface of the water becomes concave. If the bucket's spinning is stopped then the surface of the water remains concave as it continues to spin. The concave surface is therefore apparently not the result of relative motion between the bucket and the water. Instead, Newton argued, it must be a result of non-inertial motion relative to space itself. For several centuries the bucket argument was considered decisive in showing that space must exist independently of matter.
Kant
In the eighteenth century the German philosopher
Immanuel Kant developed a theory of
knowledge in which knowledge about space can be both ''a priori'' and ''
synthetic Synthetic things are composed of multiple parts, often with the implication that they are artificial. In particular, 'synthetic' may refer to:
Science
* Synthetic chemical or compound, produced by the process of chemical synthesis
* Synthetic ...
''. According to Kant, knowledge about space is ''synthetic'', in that statements about space are not simply true by virtue of the meaning of the words in the statement. In his work, Kant rejected the view that space must be either a substance or relation. Instead he came to the conclusion that space and time are not discovered by humans to be objective features of the world, but imposed by us as part of a framework for organizing experience.
Non-Euclidean geometry
Euclid's ''Elements'' contained five postulates that form the basis for Euclidean geometry. One of these, the
parallel postulate, has been the subject of debate among mathematicians for many centuries. It states that on any
plane
Plane(s) most often refers to:
* Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft
* Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface
Plane or planes may also refer to:
Biology
* Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant
* ''Planes' ...
on which there is a straight line ''L
1'' and a point ''P'' not on ''L
1'', there is exactly one straight line ''L
2'' on the plane that passes through the point ''P'' and is parallel to the straight line ''L
1''. Until the 19th century, few doubted the truth of the postulate; instead debate centered over whether it was necessary as an axiom, or whether it was a theory that could be derived from the other axioms. Around 1830 though, the Hungarian
János Bolyai
János Bolyai (; 15 December 1802 – 27 January 1860) or Johann Bolyai, was a Hungarian mathematician, who developed absolute geometry—a geometry that includes both Euclidean geometry and hyperbolic geometry. The discovery of a consis ...
and the Russian
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky
Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky ( rus, Никола́й Ива́нович Лобаче́вский, p=nʲikɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ləbɐˈtɕɛfskʲɪj, a=Ru-Nikolai_Ivanovich_Lobachevsky.ogg; – ) was a Russian mathematician and geometer, kn ...
separately published treatises on a type of geometry that does not include the parallel postulate, called
hyperbolic geometry. In this geometry, an
infinite number of parallel lines pass through the point ''P''. Consequently, the sum of angles in a triangle is less than 180° and the ratio of a
circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
's
circumference
In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out to ...
to its
diameter is greater than
pi. In the 1850s,
Bernhard Riemann
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (; 17 September 1826 – 20 July 1866) was a German mathematician who made contributions to analysis, number theory, and differential geometry. In the field of real analysis, he is mostly known for the first rig ...
developed an equivalent theory of
elliptical geometry
Elliptic geometry is an example of a geometry in which Euclid's parallel postulate does not hold. Instead, as in spherical geometry, there are no parallel lines since any two lines must intersect. However, unlike in spherical geometry, two lines a ...
, in which no parallel lines pass through ''P''. In this geometry, triangles have more than 180° and circles have a ratio of circumference-to-diameter that is less than
pi.
Gauss and Poincaré
Although there was a prevailing Kantian consensus at the time, once non-Euclidean geometries had been formalised, some began to wonder whether or not physical space is curved.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...
, a German mathematician, was the first to consider an empirical investigation of the geometrical structure of space. He thought of making a test of the sum of the angles of an enormous stellar triangle, and there are reports that he actually carried out a test, on a small scale, by
triangulating mountain tops in Germany.
Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and physicist of the late 19th century, introduced an important insight in which he attempted to demonstrate the futility of any attempt to discover which geometry applies to space by experiment. He considered the predicament that would face scientists if they were confined to the surface of an imaginary large sphere with particular properties, known as a
sphere-world
The idea of a sphere-world was constructed by Henri Poincaré who, while pursuing his argument for conventionalism (see philosophy of space and time), offered a thought experiment about a sphere with strange properties.
The concept
Poincaré ...
. In this world, the temperature is taken to vary in such a way that all objects expand and contract in similar proportions in different places on the sphere. With a suitable falloff in temperature, if the scientists try to use measuring rods to determine the sum of the angles in a triangle, they can be deceived into thinking that they inhabit a plane, rather than a spherical surface. In fact, the scientists cannot in principle determine whether they inhabit a plane or sphere and, Poincaré argued, the same is true for the debate over whether real space is Euclidean or not. For him, which geometry was used to describe space was a matter of
convention. Since
Euclidean geometry is simpler than non-Euclidean geometry, he assumed the former would always be used to describe the 'true' geometry of the world.
Einstein
In 1905,
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
published his
special theory of relativity
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates:
# The law ...
, which led to the concept that space and time can be viewed as a single construct known as ''
spacetime''. In this theory, the
speed of light in a
vacuum is the same for all observers—which has
the result that two events that appear simultaneous to one particular observer will not be simultaneous to another observer if the observers are moving with respect to one another. Moreover, an observer will measure a moving clock to
tick more slowly than one that is stationary with respect to them; and objects are measured
to be shortened in the direction that they are moving with respect to the observer.
Subsequently, Einstein worked on a
general theory of relativity, which is a theory of how
gravity interacts with spacetime. Instead of viewing gravity as a
force field acting in spacetime, Einstein suggested that it modifies the geometric structure of spacetime itself. According to the general theory, time
goes more slowly at places with lower gravitational potentials and rays of light bend in the presence of a gravitational field. Scientists have studied the behaviour of
binary pulsar
A binary pulsar is a pulsar with a binary companion, often a white dwarf or neutron star. (In at least one case, the double pulsar PSR J0737-3039, the companion neutron star is another pulsar as well.) Binary pulsars are one of the few objects ...
s, confirming the predictions of Einstein's theories, and non-Euclidean geometry is usually used to describe spacetime.
Mathematics
In modern mathematics
spaces are defined as
sets with some added structure. They are frequently described as different types of
manifold
In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a ...
s, which are spaces that locally approximate to Euclidean space, and where the properties are defined largely on local connectedness of points that lie on the manifold. There are however, many diverse mathematical objects that are called spaces. For example,
vector spaces such as
function spaces may have infinite numbers of independent dimensions and a notion of distance very different from Euclidean space, and
topological space
In mathematics, a topological space is, roughly speaking, a geometrical space in which closeness is defined but cannot necessarily be measured by a numeric distance. More specifically, a topological space is a set whose elements are called po ...
s replace the concept of distance with a more abstract idea of nearness.
Physics
Space is one of the few
fundamental quantities in
physics, meaning that it cannot be defined via other quantities because nothing more fundamental is known at the present. On the other hand, it can be related to other fundamental quantities. Thus, similar to other fundamental quantities (like time and
mass), space can be explored via
measurement and experiment.
Today, our
three-dimensional space is viewed as embedded in a four-dimensional
spacetime, called
Minkowski space (see
special relativity). The idea behind spacetime is that time is
hyperbolic-orthogonal to each of the three spatial dimensions.
Relativity
Before
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's work on relativistic physics, time and space were viewed as independent dimensions. Einstein's discoveries showed that due to relativity of motion our space and time can be mathematically combined into one object–
spacetime. It turns out that distances in
space or in
time separately are not invariant with respect to Lorentz coordinate transformations, but distances in Minkowski space along
spacetime intervals are—which justifies the name.
In addition, time and space dimensions should not be viewed as exactly equivalent in Minkowski space. One can freely move in space but not in time. Thus, time and space coordinates are treated differently both in
special relativity (where time is sometimes considered an
imaginary coordinate) and in
general relativity (where different signs are assigned to time and space components of
spacetime metric).
Furthermore, in
Einstein's general theory of relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics. G ...
, it is postulated that spacetime is geometrically distorted – ''curved'' – near to gravitationally significant masses.
One consequence of this postulate, which follows from the equations of general relativity, is the prediction of moving ripples of spacetime, called
gravitational waves. While indirect evidence for these waves has been found (in the motions of the
Hulse–Taylor binary
The Hulse–Taylor binary is a binary star system composed of a neutron star and a pulsar (known as PSR B1913+16, PSR J1915+1606 or PSR 1913+16) which orbit around their common center of mass. It is the first binary pulsar ever discovere ...
system, for example) experiments attempting to directly measure these waves are ongoing at the
LIGO and
Virgo collaborations. LIGO scientists reported the
first such direct observation of gravitational waves on 14 September 2015.
[
*]
Cosmology
Relativity theory leads to the
cosmological
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
question of what shape the universe is, and where space came from. It appears that space was created in the
Big Bang
The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...
, 13.8 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. The overall shape of space is not known, but space is known to be expanding very rapidly due to the
cosmic inflation
In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the early universe. The inflationary epoch lasted from seconds after the conjectured Big Bang singularit ...
.
Spatial measurement
The measurement of ''physical space'' has long been important. Although earlier societies had developed measuring systems, the
International System of Units, (SI), is now the most common system of units used in the measuring of space, and is almost universally used.
Currently, the standard space interval, called a standard meter or simply meter, is defined as the
distance traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of exactly 1/299,792,458 of a second. This definition coupled with present definition of the second is based on the
special theory of relativity
In physics, the special theory of relativity, or special relativity for short, is a scientific theory regarding the relationship between space and time. In Albert Einstein's original treatment, the theory is based on two postulates:
# The law ...
in which the
speed of light plays the role of a fundamental constant of nature.
Geographical space
Geography is the branch of science concerned with identifying and describing places on
Earth, utilizing spatial awareness to try to understand why things exist in specific locations.
Cartography
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
is the mapping of spaces to allow better navigation, for visualization purposes and to act as a locational device.
Geostatistics
Geostatistics is a branch of statistics focusing on spatial or spatiotemporal datasets. Developed originally to predict probability distributions of ore grades for mining operations, it is currently applied in diverse disciplines including pe ...
apply statistical concepts to collected spatial data of Earth to create an estimate for unobserved phenomena.
Geographical space is often considered as land, and can have a relation to
ownership
Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...
usage (in which space is seen as
property or territory). While some cultures assert the rights of the individual in terms of ownership, other cultures will identify with a communal approach to land ownership, while still other cultures such as
Australian Aboriginals
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Island ...
, rather than asserting ownership rights to land, invert the relationship and consider that they are in fact owned by the land.
Spatial planning
Spatial planning mediates between the respective claims on space of the state, market, and community. In so doing, three different mechanisms of involving stakeholders, integrating sectoral policies and promoting development projects mark the th ...
is a method of regulating the use of space at land-level, with decisions made at regional, national and international levels. Space can also impact on human and cultural behavior, being an important factor in architecture, where it will impact on the design of buildings and structures, and on farming.
Ownership of space is not restricted to land. Ownership of
airspace
Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...
and of
waters is decided internationally. Other forms of ownership have been recently asserted to other spaces—for example to the radio bands of the
electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.
The electromagnetic spectrum covers electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from b ...
or to
cyberspace
Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...
.
Public space is a term used to define areas of land as collectively owned by the community, and managed in their name by delegated bodies; such spaces are open to all, while
private property
Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property and personal property, which is owned by a state entity, and from collective or c ...
is the land culturally owned by an individual or company, for their own use and pleasure.
Abstract space
Abstract space, in geography, is a hypothetical space characterized by equal and consistent properties; a geographic space that is completely homogeneous. All movement and activity would be equally easy or difficult in all directions and all locati ...
is a term used in
geography to refer to a hypothetical space characterized by complete homogeneity. When modeling activity or behavior, it is a conceptual tool used to limit
extraneous variables
Dependent and independent variables are variables in mathematical modeling, statistical modeling and experimental sciences. Dependent variables receive this name because, in an experiment, their values are studied under the supposition or demand ...
such as terrain.
In psychology
Psychologists first began to study the way space is perceived in the middle of the 19th century. Those now concerned with such studies regard it as a distinct branch of
psychology. Psychologists analyzing the perception of space are concerned with how recognition of an object's physical appearance or its interactions are perceived, see, for example,
visual space
Visual space is the experience of space by an aware observer. It is the subjective counterpart of the space of physical objects. There is a long history in philosophy, and later psychology of writings describing visual space, and its relationship ...
.
Other, more specialized topics studied include
amodal perception Amodal perception is the perception of the whole of a physical structure when only parts of it affect the sensory receptors. For example, a table will be perceived as a complete volumetric structure even if only part of it—the facing surface—pro ...
and
object permanence. The
perception
Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...
of surroundings is important due to its necessary relevance to survival, especially with regards to
hunting and
self preservation
Self-preservation is a behavior or set of behaviors that ensures the survival of an organism. It is thought to be universal among all living organisms. For sentient organisms, pain and fear are integral parts of this mechanism. Pain motivates the ...
as well as simply one's idea of
personal space
Proxemics is the study of human use of space and the effects that population density has on behaviour, communication, and social interaction.
Proxemics is one among several subcategories in the study of nonverbal communication, including haptics ...
.
Several space-related
phobia
A phobia is an anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected go to great lengths to avoi ...
s have been identified, including
agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can in ...
(the fear of open spaces),
astrophobia (the fear of celestial space) and
claustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of confined spaces. It can be triggered by many situations or stimuli, including elevators, especially when crowded to capacity, windowless rooms, and hotel rooms with closed doors and sealed windows. Even bedrooms with ...
(the fear of enclosed spaces).
The understanding of three-dimensional space in humans is thought to be learned during infancy using
unconscious inference Unconscious inference (German: unbewusster Schluss), also referred to as unconscious conclusion, is a term of perceptual psychology coined in 1867 by the German physicist and polymath Hermann von Helmholtz to describe an involuntary, pre-rational an ...
, and is closely related to
hand-eye coordination. The visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions is called
depth perception.
In the social sciences
Space has been studied in the social sciences from the perspectives of
Marxism,
feminism,
postmodernism
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
,
postcolonialism,
urban theory
Urban theory describes the economic, political and social processes which affect the formation and development of cities.
Overview
Theoretical discourse has often polarized between economic determinismMarx, K. (1976) Capital Vol 1Harmondsworth: ...
and
critical geography
Critical geography is theoretically informed geographical scholarship that promotes social justice, liberation, and leftist politics. Critical geography is also used as an umbrella term for Marxist, feminist, postmodern, posts ...
. These theories account for the effect of the history of colonialism, transatlantic slavery and globalization on our understanding and experience of space and place. The topic has garnered attention since the 1980s, after the publication of
Henri Lefebvre's ''The Production of Space .'' In this book, Lefebvre applies Marxist ideas about the production of commodities and accumulation of capital to discuss space as a social product. His focus is on the multiple and overlapping social processes that produce space.
In his book ''The Condition of Postmodernity,''
David Harvey
David W. Harvey (born 31 October 1935) is a British-born Marxist economic geographer, podcaster and Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). He received his Ph ...
describes what he terms the "
time-space compression Timespace may refer to:
* Spacetime, any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum
* "Time Space" (EP), the 2012 single by Japanese singer and voice actress Nana Mizuki
* '' Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks'', a gr ...
." This is the effect of technological advances and capitalism on our perception of time, space and distance. Changes in the modes of production and consumption of capital affect and are affected by developments in transportation and technology. These advances create relationships across time and space, new markets and groups of wealthy elites in urban centers, all of which annihilate distances and affect our perception of linearity and distance.
In his book ''Thirdspace,''
Edward Soja describes space and spatiality as an integral and neglected aspect of what he calls the "
trialectics of being," the three modes that determine how we inhabit, experience and understand the world. He argues that critical theories in the Humanities and Social Sciences study the historical and social dimensions of our lived experience, neglecting the spatial dimension. He builds on Henri Lefebvre's work to address the dualistic way in which humans understand space—as either material/physical or as represented/imagined. Lefebvre's "lived space" and Soja's "thirdspace" are terms that account for the complex ways in which humans understand and navigate place, which "firstspace" and "Secondspace" (Soja's terms for material and imagined spaces respectively) do not fully encompass.
Postcolonial theorist
Homi Bhabha's concept of
Third Space is different from Soja's Thirdspace, even though both terms offer a way to think outside the terms of a
binary
Binary may refer to:
Science and technology Mathematics
* Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1)
* Binary function, a function that takes two arguments
* Binary operation, a mathematical operation that ta ...
logic. Bhabha's Third Space is the space in which hybrid cultural forms and identities exist. In his theories, the term
hybrid
Hybrid may refer to:
Science
* Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding
** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species
** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
describes new cultural forms that emerge through the interaction between colonizer and colonized.
See also
*
State space (physics)
In physics, a state space is an abstract space in which different "positions" represent, not literal locations, but rather states of some physical system. This makes it a type of phase space.
Specifically, in quantum mechanics a state space is a ...
*
Absolute space and time
Absolute space and time is a concept in physics and philosophy about the properties of the universe. In physics, absolute space and time may be a preferred frame.
Before Newton
A version of the concept of absolute space (in the sense of a preferr ...
*
Aether theories
In physics, aether theories (also known as ether theories) propose the existence of a medium, a space-filling substance or field as a transmission medium for the propagation of electromagnetic or gravitational forces. Since the development of spe ...
*
Cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
*
General relativity
*
Philosophy of space and time
Philosophy of space and time is the branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding the ontology and epistemology of space and time. While such ideas have been central to philosophy from its inception, the philosophy of space and time wa ...
*
Proxemics
Proxemics is the study of human use of space and the effects that population density has on behaviour, communication, and social interaction.
Proxemics is one among several subcategories in the study of nonverbal communication, including haptics ...
*
Shape of the universe
The shape of the universe, in physical cosmology, is the local and global geometry of the universe. The local features of the geometry of the universe are primarily described by its curvature, whereas the topology of the universe describes ge ...
*
Social space
A social space is physical or virtual space such as a social center, online social media, or other gathering place where people gather and interact. Some social spaces such as town squares or parks are public places; others such as pubs, websit ...
*
Space exploration
*
Spatial analysis
*
Spatial–temporal reasoning
References
External links
{{Authority control
Geometry
Nature
Spacetime
Topology