Time for Ontology? The Role of Ontological Time in Anticipation

Abstract

In this contribution, I will argue for an ontological understanding of time as temporality. This, however, implies that in a certain sense being is temporality, by which I mean that (1) on an ontological level temporality is nothing but the process of change, i.e. the dynamic aspect of being in its becoming, changing, and perishing, and (2) that concrete beings are not merely in time, but they are temporal. This leads to the conclusion that actual time is the process of change that becoming beings are, as well as the conclusion that reality is fundamentally temporal as argued by process metaphysicians like Alfred North Whitehead, Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger, and Gilles Deleuze. The investigation begins with first establishing the methodological difficulties involved in thinking temporality as an ontological feature. In a second step, dynamic ontologies are introduced as the conceptual background best suited to think ontological temporality and their difference to event-ontologies is explained. Finally, the distinction between temporality and linear time is clarified. This introduction of temporality ends with some arguments for the existence of temporality that are inspired by Aristotle's famous investigations into the nature of time. After having thus introduced temporality as an ontological feature and argued for the existence and relevance of it, its implications for our understanding of the dimensions of time and especially for anticipation are discussed.

Perturbing Anticipation: Jazz, Effective-History, Dialogue, and the Nonrepresentational Movement of Hermeneutic Understanding

“…With every new present that is added and thus integrated to the past, the past as a whole changes. (Röck, 2019, n.p. )…”

“…In this way, he argued for a kind of awareness for how our modes of expression and communication—linguistic, gestural, numerical, musical, visual, embodied, symbolic—not only give shape to understanding but also do so repeatedly, in different ways, in relation to the unique circumstances presented to them. Philosophical hermeneutic’s focus on becoming asserts a dynamic and ontological view of time and anticipation (Röck, 2019). Time is not something measurable that stands outside and over a changing world.…”

“…Time is not something measurable that stands outside and over a changing world. Rather, time can be considered a “ quality of change, of flow generated by the becoming of beings ” (Röck, 2019, n.p. ).…”

“…In her discussion of the anticipatory movement of time, Tina Röck (2019) draws on Bergson’s concept of “memory” to describe the ongoing, revisionary process between past, present, and future. She states,For Bergson the past is “remembered” in the cumulative progression of duration.…”

“…Whether called “tradition” or “memory,” the emphasis here is on the constitutive nature of process over product; the way engagement in the present alters the past and future. This is why Röck (2019) concludes that our orientation to time, whether perceived as past, present, or future, must have an anticipatory dimension. Tradition, for Gadamer, provides a way to acknowledge the anticipatory effect of history on our thinking and doing, while also suggesting that we pay close attention to how we might participate meaningfully in its transmission and transformation.…”