An idea to deal with the problem that we can apparently only be aware of what is present, and what is present must be momentary (otherwise it would include the future or past and not be all present), yet anything real must exist for at least some time: so how can we be aware of anything real, and of things as continuing in time?
Introduced by E. R. Clay and quoted by William James (1842-1910) in The Principles of Psychology (1901).
The specious present is a short period (various claims have been made by psychologists as to its length), allegedly presented to consciousness as all present at once, though in reality never more than one moment is present at once (hence the ‘specious’).
Our awareness of it, however, does take place all at once, being a single momentary act, or an element of a continuous series of such acts.
Objections to this include the view that the problem of generating our awareness of the passing of time from momentary experiences (whatever they are of) is a false one since such momentary experiences are a myth.
Also see: process philosophy and the writings of Henri Bergson (1859-1941) on what he calls ‘the intuition of duration’.
Source:
W James, The Principle of Psychology, 1 (1902), 609;
C W K Mundle, ‘How Specious is the “Specious Present”?’, Mind (1954)
Table of Contents
- 1 Videos
- 2 Related Products
- 2.1 Specious Present
- 2.2 The Adversaries Of The Skeptic Or The Specious Present: A New Inquiry Into Human Knowledge (1901)
- 2.3 Specious Present
- 2.4 The adversaries of the sceptic, or, The specious present, a new inquiry into human knowledge
- 2.5 Come to Grief (Sid Halley series Book 3)
- 2.6 Coriolanus
- 2.7 2 & 3
- 2.8 The Future of the Philosophy of Time
- 2.9 Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People
- 2.10 O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It: The Shocking Truth about the Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman
Videos
Specious Present
- Audio CD – Audiobook
- Fresh Sound France (Publisher)
The Adversaries Of The Skeptic Or The Specious Present: A New Inquiry Into Human Knowledge (1901)
- Hodder, Alfred (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 338 Pages - 09/10/2010 (Publication Date) - Kessinger Publishing, LLC (Publisher)
The adversaries of the sceptic, or, The specious present, a new inquiry into human knowledge
- Hodder, Alfred (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 346 Pages - 08/09/2010 (Publication Date) - Nabu Press (Publisher)
Come to Grief (Sid Halley series Book 3)
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Francis, Dick (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 420 Pages - 12/06/2005 (Publication Date) - G.P. Putnam's Sons (Publisher)
Coriolanus
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- Gerard Butler, Ralph Fiennes, Harry Fenn (Actors)
- Ralph Fiennes (Director) - Carolyn Marks Blackwood (Producer)
- English (Playback Language)
- English (Subtitle)
- Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
The Future of the Philosophy of Time
- English (Publication Language)
- 230 Pages - 11/08/2013 (Publication Date) - Routledge (Publisher)
Humankind: Solidarity with Non-Human People
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Morton, Timothy (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 224 Pages - 08/22/2017 (Publication Date) - Verso (Publisher)
O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It: The Shocking Truth about the Murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman
- Dear, William C. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 592 Pages - 11/11/2014 (Publication Date) - Skyhorse (Publisher)
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