Temporalités (Dec 2003)
Cinq propositions pour appréhender le temps
Abstract
This brief essay attempts to delineate some characteristics of time as such, seen as a general category upon which the existence, the « Sein », of human beings, rests. Consequently, it deliberately departs from the tradition established by the sociologist Georges Gurvitch and the sociological method based on the diversity of « social times » (temps sociaux). Five major points are outlined here:- the specificity, as experienced by human beings, of time vs. space.- the foremost relevance of the present-past-future trilogy (in that order).- the ability of time as such to transcend the diversity of « time cultures » as a cluster of anthropologicalconstructs.- the close parallel between social time and personal time, this homology taking precedence over the intimate singularity of personal time.- the ultimate unity between two opposite versions of time, i.e. time as an all-embracing entity, a general, continuously moving force, and on the other hand time as a measurable, fractionable quantum, inscribed in our social existences. The former should be considered as a companion from whom we cannot part throughout the course of our existence, and the latter as a parameter we must deal with when organizing our lives.
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