A Treatise on Time: Toward a Definition of One of the Most Misunderstood Concepts

The concept of time is ubiquitous in science and everyday practice, yet its meaning remains conceptually unclear. This work argues that time should be understood as an idealized abstraction of a reference process relative to which the durations of physical processes are determined. By analyzing the empirical origins of timekeeping practices and the role of reference processes, the paper shows that the widespread intuition of time as an objective entity that “flows” independently of physical processes stems largely from linguistic and logical errors, in particular hypostatization. A clear operational definition of time is proposed, and the cognitive and methodological implications of this interpretation are discussed.