Abstract

The basic proposal is presented: movement precedes both space and time that are derived from it. As a line of justification, one must guard against two temptations: a) that of believing that reality imposes on us in a univocal way the words to describe it, each one referring to their own qualities of the corresponding objects; b) that of believing that the concepts can reach a state of purity that abstracts them completely from human knowledge, which is rooted in the functioning of the body. In response, two dimensions of thought are particularly adapted: 1) a relational dimension: one can only compare phenomena to other phenomena (movements to other movements) and conventions are necessary. Space and time are the names of these comparisons; 2) an embodiment dimension: the concepts of space and time have a meaning first in the experience of the body inside the world (lived in terms of movements), before the words. The presentation of the proposal is followed by some elements of history of the concepts of space and time, a discussion on the way to express the objectivity of embodied knowledge, and some consequences that may already be foreseen, in social and human sciences, as well as in physics.