Temporality and the Self

This thread follows the book's account of past, present, and future as interdependent dimensions of the for-itself.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Past Is Mine

The Past Is Mine Beyond Present Impressions The past cannot be reduced to a present trace, nor can it persist as an isolated store of former events. It is the past of a living present. Being One's Past The for-itself has to be its past without coinciding with it. What it was remains an in-itself it must assume and surpass.

The Present as Flight

The Present as Flight Presence to Being The present is not an instant that simply exists. It is the for-itself's presence to being, a movement away from what it is. Temporal Tension The present has its being behind it in the past and ahead of itself in the future. Its non-coincidence makes temporal experience possible.

The Future as Possible

The Future as Possible Not Yet The future is not a stored event waiting to arrive. It is what the for-itself has to be beyond its present being. Freedom Because the future is a possibility rather than a guarantee, it gives present action direction without mechanically determining what the agent will do.

Time's Ekstatic Unity

Time's Ekstatic Unity No Separate Nows Past, present, and future cannot be assembled from self-contained instants. They form one temporal structure in which each dimension refers beyond itself. For-Itself Temporality is not a container around consciousness. It is the for-itself's way of existing as a detotalized unity.

Reflection and Psychic Time

Reflection and Psychic Time Two Durations Original temporality is lived as historicity, while reflection constitutes a psyche populated by states, qualities, and acts. Consequence Psychic objects imitate the unity of consciousness in a degraded, thing-like form. Their apparent duration belongs to reflection rather than to the original flow.

Part Two, Chapter Two, Section I

Part Two, Chapter Two, Section I, discussion of the present

Part Two, Chapter Two, Section I, discussion of the future

Part Two, Chapter Two, Section II

Part Two, Chapter Two, Section III