Traditionally, standard SRT textbooks begin with a description of the allegedly then existing crisis of physics and experiments that preceded the generation and establishment of SRT. However, there exists the opinion [38] that SRT was originated as a pure theoretical "breakthrough" having no need of any experimental substantiation. The author does not agree with such a view, for physics is destined primarily to explain the really existing world and to find interrelations between observed (measurable) physical quantities. Nevertheless, we begin the book with the theoretical consideration of relativistic kinematics, not with the analysis of experiments. The matter is that several theories can try to interpret the same observed phenomenon in quite different ways (such is and will indeed the case for physics). However, it is common practice to abandon the theory manifesting logical contradictions. The history of physics demonstrates repeated changes of conventional interpretations for many phenomena. And it is not to be believed that the elapsed century was the last one for these changes.
In textbooks on general and theoretical physics, and in the popular scientific literature, there exists almost advertising support of special relativity theory (SRT). This is expressed in headings like: "on the Practical Importance of SRT", "on the Uniqueness and Foundation of all Mathematical Derivations and Corollaries from SRT", "on the Simplicity and Elegance of all SRT Results", "on Full Confirmation of SRT by Experiments", "on the Absence of Logical Inconsistencies in SRT", etc. But if we keep aside issues of particle dynamics (they will be discussed in Chapter 4), and consider only kinematic notions, then the "Practical Significance of SRT" will be obviously zero. The uniqueness and theoretical foundation of SRT can also be attacked [58,65,102,111]. In papers [48-50,52] a series of logical contradictions, related to the basic notions of space, time, and relativity of simultaneity, was analyzed in detail and the complete lack of logical grounding for SRT was proved. Also, the complete lack of experimental grounding for SRT was shown (these issues will be considered in Chapter 3 of the book); and as a demonstration that SRT is not uniquely implied by anything, the possibility of a frequency parameterization of all SRT results was described (although such a parameterization was not the main purpose of the cited work; it will be presented in Appendixes as a particular hypothesis).
In this Chapter, criticism of kinematic notions in SRT will be presented in detail, and attention will be given to some apparent errors from textbooks. All these circumstances force us to return to classical notions of space and time, as advanced by Newton. He formulated these notions in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy as a brilliant generalization of works of precursors (including ancient Greeks). Relativists aspired to destroy the former conceptions at any cost (carping, basically, at the word "absolute") and to allege "something new and great". They could present no definitions for notions of time, space and motion, but only manipulated with the mentioned words. Therefore, though brief comments on Newton's classical notions [28] ought to be given in Introduction.
Proceeding from practical demands of natural science, Newton understood that any creature is "excellently familiar" with the mentioned notions and practically uses" theirs (for example, insects that are incapable of abstract thinking in opinion of people). So, these notions are the basic ones, i.e. they cannot be defined through anything. Then, it is possible to give only an enumeration of "things" that will be meant by these notions or will be used in practice and to separate the abstraction that will be implied for idealized mathematical calculations. Because of this, Newton clearly separated absolute, true, mathematical time or duration (all these words simply are synonyms in this case!) from relative, seeming or ordinary time. Thus, time means the mathematical comparison between duration of the process under investigation and duration of the standard process. In classical physics the possibility of introducing the universal time has not been directly connected with the obvious restriction on the speed of signal transmission. More likely obtaining the universal time was connected with the possibility to recalculate it from local times with reasonable exactness. In perfect analogy to this, Newton separated the absolute space notion from the relative one, distinguished absolute and relative place, and distinguished between absolute and relative motions. If the search of relationships of cause and effect is believed to be one of the goal of sciences, then the important positive moment of the classical approach consists in a separation of an object under investigation from the rest of the Universe. For example, in the overwhelming majority of cases "the motion of observer's eyes" does not exert any noticeable influence on a concrete proceeding process and, so all the more, on the rest of the Universe. Certainly, there exist "seeming effects", but to concentrate just upon the process under study, they can be eliminated by the graduating of devices, recalculations etc.. The classical kinematic notions was actually introduced by Newton just for the determination of registration points and standards independent of the process under investigation. This founds the grounds for the common description of different phenomena, for the joining of various fields of knowledge and for the simplification of the description. Also classical notions intuitively coincide with ones given to us in sensations: it is stupid not use they - it equals "to try to go by ears". A centuries-old development of sciences (from ancient Greeks) shows that the classical kinematic concepts lead neither to internal logical contradictions nor to discrepancy with experiments.
Now we shall pass to "the things, created by relativists" in this field, and consider logical contradictions in the fundamental notions of "space" and "time" in SRT. We begin with the conception of time.