Brett Bowden, Professor of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at Western Sydney University and author of "Now Is Not the Time: Inside Our Obsession with the Present," delves into our fixation on the present moment. He critiques tempocentrism, highlighting how it skews our understanding of history and progress. Bowden discusses the paradox of humanity’s urgency versus the slow pace of geological time and advocates for a more integrated view of our relationship with nature. His insights challenge listeners to consider the broader context of time in decision-making.
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insights INSIGHT
Tempocentrism
Humans tend to overemphasize the present, neglecting historical context.
This "tempocentrism" involves judging the past as inferior to the present, often morally.
insights INSIGHT
Tempocentrism and Eurocentrism
Tempocentrism, like Eurocentrism, assumes a superior position based on time.
It ties into Enlightenment ideas of linear progress and development, rooted in a Eurocentric worldview.
insights INSIGHT
Humanity vs. Geological Time
Humanity's focus on instantaneous action clashes with vast geological time.
This disconnect reflects a desire to control nature, fueled by a perceived human specialness.
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Human beings have an overwhelming tendency to overemphasize the significance of the present without considering context or historical perspective. For many, here and now is as good as it gets - we have steadily progressed from a savage past, and all we have to look forward to is the great unknown. But if our literature and cinema are anything to go by, many are convinced that the future will indeed be dystopian. At the same time, arguments abound that living in the moment is a key to happiness and success.
However, to privilege the present over the past or future, Brett Bowden argues in Now Is Not the Time: Inside Our Obsession with the Present(Iff Books, 2024), is to engage in tempocentrism. More than a mere preoccupation with the present, tempocentrism involves comparing and judging the past in relation to the present, with the tendency to assume that the present isn’t only materially and qualitatively different from the past but also superior to it, often morally so.
Yet tempocentrism, a mistaken belief in the unprecedented nature of events going on around us, brings with it a skewed perspective loaded with bias and prejudice. Requiring just as much ignorance and arrogance as Eurocentrism - tempocentrism implies that the present is somehow superior to the past because we live in it now. The point, however, is not to suggest that there is not something special about the present - there might well be - but now is not the time to decide whether it is more significant than previous moments, or those still to come. Depending on the issue or event in question, the time for that is later … possibly hundreds or thousands of years later.