The Fundamental Importance of Discourse in Theoretical Physics

The purpose of the fo llo wing paper is to demonstrate that the "limits of physics" are in a very important way determined by the conceptual framework and language of discourse that we use to describe physical reality. In this paper we examine three areas where the structure of d iscourse has been particularly d ifficu lt. In this regard we examine three problems, the problem of t ime (which is discussed in two sections of the paper), the problem of non-locality in quantum mechanics and some related general difficult ies of interpretation specific to the Copenhagen school, and the concept of maximality as it is emp loyed with respect to cosmic inflat ion in general relativ ity and quantum cosmology.