the specious present ‘the short duration of which we are immediately and incessantly sensible’...
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The Specious Present
‘the short duration of which we are immediately and incessantly sensible’
James
Time Consciousness
SpeciousPresent
= time as it most directly and distinctively manifests in
experience
BUT: speciouspresent: particularly
controversial (& baffling)
Does it really exist?
Isn’t itparadoxical?
My aims:
• Survey the main options + comment on James’ position
• Isolate some key assumptions motivating the different positions
• Defend a neo-Jamesian conception • Counter some recent criticisms of Sean Kelly’s• Explore a few implications
Specious Present: why believe?
Primary reason: to make sense of our experience
“change itself is one of the things immediately experienced.” (James,WPE)
• Some changes = too slow to be perceived (growth of oak tree).
• Some are too fast (speeding bullet).
• Some are just right: we directly apprehend them.
Seeing motion:
Enter SP: ‘all the changes in place of a meteor seem … to be contained in the present.’ (Clay)
So: our direct perceptual awareness can’t be confined to a durationless instant
t1t2
1 sec
Further data: ‘phenomenal depth’
Strictly durationless tone = hard to conceive
Most simple sensations have some temporal depth
More generally: (typical) streams
of consciousness are continuous
each phase is experienced as
giving way to the next
A puzzle about length: ‘a core of about a
dozen seconds, up to a minute’ (James)
We’re not directlyaware of what we
experienced a minute ago
Or even a few seconds!
(Partially) plausible diagnosis:
SP proper (e.g. 1sec)
Vivid short-term memories
Vivid anticipations
James: ‘the practically cognized present is no knife-edge, but a saddleback’
Making sense of SP: two main models
• Retentionalist– immediate experience
of change occurs in a single moment
– specious present does not really extend through time
• Extensionalist– immediate experience
of change is not confined to a single moment
– specious present is spread through time
Extensionalism: 1 SP
B C
real (clock) time
specious present
Extensionalism: streams of SPs
succession of tones
succession of tones
Pulse version (Whitehead, Sprigge)
Overlap version (Russell, Foster)
Retentionalist Model: 1 SP
B C D E
E
D
C
B
clock time
less past
more past
Specious present
Retentionalist Model: 3 SPs
E
D
C
B
F
E
D
C
G
F
E
D
succession of tones in real time
Retentionalist Model: full glory
succession of tones in real time
James: Retentionalist or Extentionalist??
Sean Kelly (recent recommendation):
• ‘Specious present’ = what James was committed to
• James = Extensionalist
• So: distinguish ‘specious present’ theories from Retentionalist approaches
James = Extensionalist?
‘duration-blocks’ stream doctrine
James’ Stream doctrineexperiences
not unified(empiricism)
experiences unified by
soul-substance(rationalism)
REJECT
Experience unifies itself, synchronically & diachronically
via ‘conjunctive relations’
Conjunctive relations:• ‘The conjunctive relation that has given
most trouble to philosophy is the co-conscious transition, so to call it, by which one experience passes into another when both belong to the same self. … this sense of continuity in that most intimate of all conjunctive relations’ (WPE)
But: James = Retentionalist!
‘The knowledge of some other part of the stream, past or future, near or remote, is always mixed in with knowledge of the present thing’
Volkmann has expressed the matter admirably: ‘if A and B are to be represented as occurring in succession they must be simultaneously represented’
James’ SP diagram: pure Retentionalism!
specious
present
B C D E
E
D
C
B
clock time
‘The feeling of past time is a present feeling’
Diagnosis:
• In Principles James is pulled in different directions:– Retentionalist when in scientific mode– Extentionalist when in
phenomenological/philosophical mode
Terminological Recommendation:
• ‘Specious Present’ – for any account which attributes apparent temporal depth to experience– E.g. Retentionalism– E.g. Extensionalism
Retentionalism: main advocates
Husserl
James(/2)
Brentano
Ward
Broad (L)
Dobbs
Kant
Lockwood
Retentionalism: motivation (i)
• Can we really be directly aware of what lies in the past? (Or the future?) Or is clairvoyance commonplace?
awareness Avoid!
Past Present Future
Retentionalism: motivation (ii)
Simultaneous Unity Thesis (SUT): to be apprehended as successive, contents must be presented
together in consciousness at the same moment
– regarded as axiomatic by Volkmann, Ward, James, Husserl, Dobbs
SUT
entails
Retentionalism
Objections to Retention 1:
specious
present
B C D E
E
D
C
B
time
Why aren’t these experienced as a chord,
rather than a succession?
Main solutions:Broad’s
‘presentedness’Dobbs’ ‘gravitas’
unclear
Husserl’s retentions
implausible
No matter: it still may be possible for momentary experience to have apparent temporal depth
Objection 2: phenomenologically dubious
Are we really aware, at each moment, of a temporal spread
of content?
I’m only aware of what’s
happening now!
Objection 3: expensive and exotic
Multiplies total quantity of experience in universe
retentions
Exotic: Dobbs (& Broad): properly viewed, retention model = two-dimensional time
Ordinary (transition) time
Experiential (extensive) timeSpecious present
2-D time construal = fully justified
temporal
interval
B C D E
E
D
C
B
clock time
more past
less past
2-d time view: vulnerable
Phenomenal time
ordinary time Surprising & important discovery?
Or needless posit?
Objection 4: James’ insight lost?
Stream: adjacent phases UNIFIED
Stream: fragmented
Extensionalist Alternative?
Two Extensionalisms
stream
stream
Pulse version
Overlap version
succession of tones
succession of tones
BETTER: securescontinuity of
consciousness
Fragments stream …
Overlap Model: basic ingredients
= Jamesian duration block
Parts spread across time AND experienced together as a succession
single specious present
Diachronic co-consciousness = directly experienced succession/persistence
Doesn’t mean: hearing A and simultaneously hearing B (i.e.before it has occurred!)
A B A B
Does mean: directly hearing A-being-followed-by-B
Diachronic co-consciousness:
In consciousness together, but as a succession (not simultaneously = retentional model)
Overlap model: from blocks to streams
Stream of consciousness
Overlap: no (unwanted) duplications
C D
D E
E F
SP1
SP2
SP3
Overlapping SPs possess common parts (D in SP1 = D in SP2, etc)
What explains the apparent direction of experience?
• The asymmetric character of diachronic co-consciousness relationship?
• The intrinsic character of phenomenal contents?
More economical option
Duration-blocks inherently dynamic:
motion! motion!
Overlap but no ‘temporal modes’ (= austere)
Jamesian saddleback
presentjust past
more past
‘qualities’/intrinsic properties
“we have a constant feeling sui generis of pastness, to which every one of our experiences falls prey” James
E
D
C
B
F
E
D
C
G
F
E
D
succession of tones in real time
Modes are intelligible in Retentionalist Model
3 numerically distinct experiences - varying properties not a problem
Not in Overlap Model:
C
D
D
E
SP1
SP2
A single experience, at a particular time, can’t have different and incompatible intrinsic properties at that time!
present
just past
But: with dynamic contents, temporal modes aren’t needed to account for
perceived passage:
motion! motion!
Extension + (certain forms) of Retention
short-term memories (echoes)
anticipations
Realistic specious present
sensory core
Fringe feelings & images
Was James an Overlap Extensionalist?
• At times ….
A B C D E F G
B C D E F G H
C D E F G H I
‘lingerings of the past dropping successivelyaway, and the incomings of the future making
up the loss’
Extension/Overlap v. Retentionalism
KEY ISSUE
Simultaneous UnityThesis
Accepting Overlap = rejecting SUT
C D
Non-simultaneous
But unified: experienced together
Why accept SUT?
James: accommodate Kantian insight A metaphysical
assumption
A certain conception of time
James: ‘A succession of feelings, in and of itself, is not a feeling of succession’
True! But:
C D E C D E
CDE
Difference can be explained in Extensional way also…
Diachronic co-consciousness
2nd Motivation: a Neo-Rationalist Assumption?
• Eg: unity of consciousness requires something SIMPLE (non-extended, part-free)
- so a temporal spread of content must be unified by a non-extended experiencing
• Question: why believe this?
Antidote: a relevant spatial analogue
PHENOMENAL EXPANSE
ALL SPATIAL PARTSEXPERIENCED
TOGETHER
Unity a product of inter-experiential relations (in Jamesian style)
point of awarenessIf we
reject
then:
IF CO-CONSCIOUSESSCAN CROSS
SPACE, WHY NOT TIME?
specious present
Why SUT?
Tacit commitment to presentism?
3nd motivation
If reality is like this:
then Extensionalism can’t be true
time
No past No future
Obvious observation:
• 19th century: Presentism (probably) very common
• 21st century: less common (among philosophers)
• 4-d world-view more prevalent
4-d perspective: extension through (space)time = unproblematic
4-d hunk of wood (perduring)
4-d stream of experience
So:
• SUT: less than wholly compelling
• Hence: overlap theory remains a live option– maybe the better option (assuming we want a
SP at all)
Sean Kelly’s (main) objectionsto Extensionalism?
1. ‘how can we be aware of what’s no longer
happening?
No: only a diachronic co-consciousness relation
awareness
past future
(not as problematic as)
2. Can’t explain howsuccessive
specious presentsare related
Yes it can:via overlap
3. Can’t explain perceived change
Yes it can: viaanimated contents
within durationblocks
motion! motion!
Overlap Theory: implications
An argument (sketch) for dualism:
• There is no temporal passage in the physical world (McTaggart, relativity, etc.)
• There is temporal passage in experience.
• So: experience is non-physical.
But: Overlap Theory looks to be compatible with 4-d cosmology
2 explanations for limited span of SP:
non-existence of past & future
short-span of diachronic
co-consciousness
looks compatible with 4-d worldview
But what about flow? Doesn’t experience have a felt direction?
Yes but: phenomenal flow = intrinsic feature of experience
Doesn’t require ‘universal becoming/annihilation’
No more (or less) a problem for materialism than phenomenal colour
Objection: accounts of SP should be metaphysically neutral.
Retentionalism = compatible with all conceptions of time
Overlap Theory isn’t.
True!
Eternal block
Growing Block
Presentism
Ret Ext
Yes Yes
Yes ?
Yes No
But:
• Why must SP-theories be metaphysically neutral?
• Mightn’t SP provide empirical evidence for the nature of time in our universe?
• Why shouldn’t SP offer some clues as to the nature of time?
Illustration:
• Julian Barbour• Quantum Gravity• Wheeler-De Witt
equation• Universe = collection
of 3-d slices existing in phase space/platonia
• Our experience is confined to momentary ‘time capsules’
• Temporal unity of world = illusion
Platonia/Phase Space
‘Time Capsules’ = specious presents
However:
• If consciousness = physical
• Overlap theory refutes Barbour’s speculation
Streams of experience bridge universe-phases
Platonia/Phase Space
If dualism: unified streams sustained by disunified world-phases - maybe possible?
stream of consciousness
Final speculation:
Specious Present as a guide to the cosmos: a Jamesian Universe?
Standard alternatives to eternal 4-d cosmos
Broad-Tooley Growing Block
Presentism
What’s not to like about the Growing Block?
The PAST: it’s still THERE!
What’s not to like about Presentism?
It’s just too thinto containanything!
No unity betweensuccessive
presents
A middle way: cosmos consists of Overlapping Extended Presents
C D
D E
E F
absolute annihilations
absolute becomings
NO PAST + UNITY + (ENOUGH) BREADTH (+ explanation of why temporal breadth of experience is what it is ….)
END
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