The transcendence of time in the epistemology of observation from a phenomenological standpoint

• Main Author: Stathis Livadas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Campinas 2011-12-01
• Series: Manuscrito
• Subjects: absolute subjectivity; decoherence functional; history filter; history proposition; original process; phenomenological perception; quasi-temporal; temporal consciousness; von Neumann's projection postulate
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-60452011000200002&lng=en&tlng=en

In this article I deal with time as a notion of epistemological content associated though with the notion of a subjective consciousness co-constitutive of physical reality. In this phenomenologically grounded approach I attempt to establish a 'metaphysical' aspect of time, within a strictly epistemological context, in the sense of an underlying absolute subjectivity which is non-objectifiable within objective temporality and thus non-susceptible of any ontological designation. My arguments stem, on the one hand, from a version of quantum-mechanical theory (History Projection Operator theory, HPO theory) in view of its formal treatment of two different aspects of time within a quantum context. The discrete, partial-ordering properties (the notions of before and after) and the dynamical-parameter properties reflected in the wave equations of motion. On the other hand, to strengthen my arguments for a transcendental factor of temporality, I attempt an interpretation of some relevant conclusions in the work of J. Eccles ([5]) and of certain results of experimental research of S. Deahaene et al. ([2]) and others.