Time in mechanics: from supporting actor to protagonist

Abstract

This article seeks to interpret, in the light of the epistemological references of Thomas S. Kuhn and Gaston Bachelard, the different interpretations of the concept of time during the transition from the Aristotelian- Ptolemaic paradigm to the new, post-Copernican mechanics. Particular attention is given to the error committed by Galileo and Descartes, in attempting to establish the law of falling bodies, and to how overcoming this obstacle lead to the introduction of the concept of time as definitive in the analysis of movement.