TIME WITHOUT TIME: RELATIONAL ONTOLOGIES IN CONTEMPORARY PHYSICS, DIALECTICAL CRITIQUE OF THEIR PHILOSOPHICAL GENERALIZATIONS, AND PARALLELS WITH DAOISM AND MADHYAMAKA BUDDHISM

Abstract

Recent work in physics challenges the idea that time is a fundamental, self-standing entity. In quantum gravity, relational quantum mechanics (henceforth – RQM), and process-based ontologies, time does not exist on its own. Rather, what we call time emerges from relations, event connections, and how we partition reality. Our sense of time arises from patterns and correlations, not from a separate, absolute dimension [Barbour 1999; Rovelli 2017]. This paper examines how these contemporary physical theories align methodologically with two ancient Asian philosophical traditions: Daoism and Madhyamaka Buddhism, which remain highly relevant today. According to the view presented in this article, these traditions did not anticipate modern physics nor did they serve as proto-scientific theories. Rather, they offer ways of thinking which resist rigid conceptions of time and keep inquiry sharp when no fixed timeline is available [Garfield 1995; Robson 2018]. The central claim is that modern physics, Daoism, and Madhyamaka all reject time as something substantial. Events do not exist independently; they occur within shifting relations, not as stable, unchanging bits of reality. Daoism presents a process-oriented outlook that discourages conceptual fixation, while Madhyamaka articulates a relational ontology grounded in dependent arising (pratītyasamutpāda) and emptiness (śūnyatā), denying inherent (svabhāva) existence. This paper highlights methodological parallels, showing how both traditions oppose the notion of time as a fixed, independently existing phenomenon. The discussion is supplemented by drawing on the European dialectical tradition, which offers tools for addressing change, contradiction, and relationality without reducing them to simple formulas.