The passage of time

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter the author focuses on the pivotal aspect of temporal phenomenology: the experience of time passing. Various perspectives on the purported phenomenology of time passing are discussed. Accounts grounded in the notion that our belief in time’s passage stems from perceptual experiences encounter challenges in explaining how perceptual systems track this passage. Alternatively, perspectives positing that the experience of passage is not perceptual but intrinsic and structural show greater promise. The chapter examines and supports the phenomenal modifier view, according to which there is a sensational element in our experience suggesting that our experiences are in flux, yet not explicitly presenting a world where time passes.