Time may be a psychological projection, philosopher argues

By Adrian Bardo
published 3 days ago

Is time real, or an illusion? The best answer may be neither: Both physics and philosophy suggest that time is a projection of the mind onto a timeless reality.



An optical illusion that appears to be moving

Time isn’t an illusion, unlike optical illusions that trick your eyes. There’s nothing to "trick" because it has no physical basis. (Image credit: BSIP via Getty Images)


"Time flies," "time waits for no one," "as time goes on": The way we speak about time tends to strongly imply that the passage of time is some sort of real process that happens out there in the world. We inhabit the present moment and move through time, even as events come and go, fading into the past.

But go ahead and try to actually verbalize just what is meant by the flow or passage of time. A flow of what? Rivers flow because water is in motion. What does it mean to say that time flows?

Events are more like happenings than things, yet we talk as though they have ever-changing locations in the future, present or past. But if some events are future, and moving toward you, and some past, moving away, then where are they? The future and past don't seem to have any physical location.

Human beings have been thinking about time for as long as we have records of humans thinking about anything at all. The concept of time inescapably permeates every single thought you have about yourself and the world around you. That's why, as a philosopher, philosophical and scientific developments in our understanding of time have always seemed especially important to me.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/human-behavior/time-may-be-a-psychological-projection-philosopher-argues

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