Anabela Dias
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa
We tend to see time as something independent of us. As something that moves of its own accord and that influences our way of acting and thinking. But, is time really something as special as we tend to believe? How can we be so sure that the passage of time is a phenomenon that happens in the physical world and that condition us, if not event physics is able to prove the existence of the passage of time? Until today, neither physics, nor psychology or philosophy, have been able to come to a consensus about the passage of time.
In this way, perhaps the passage of time is not a physical phenomenon, but a mental one. That is, we believe that time passes us by, but in reality time is something static and we are the ones who move along it. So, we have the belief that time moves due to a process that takes place in our brain. Therefore, this paper seeks to demonstrate that the passage of time is nothing more, nothing less than a subjective mental phenomenon.
To this end, at first I will address physics and metaphysics issues regarding the idea of the passage of time. Seeking to demonstrate that the passage of time in the physical world does not exist – highlighting the impossibility of speaking of an objective and universal “now”. I will also, in the first part, emphasize the impossibility of measuring the supposed passage of time and also highlighting the fact that not even physics uses time in its own equation.
In a second moment, I will focus more on psychological and philosophy of mind issues regarding to the question of the passage of time. Thus, I will try to demonstrate the importance that our mind has for the conception that time passes. Showing next that there are different ways of perceiving time and its supposed passage. I will also show in this part cases that demonstrate that, when brain damage occurs, our conception of time and the idea of passage can be modified – thus emphasizing that the supposed passage of time is not something reliable.
Chair: Emma Jaura
Time: September 8th, 14:40-15:10
Location: HS E.002
SOPhiA 2026 