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Temporal Dissonance
DOI:10.1007/s10790-026-10083-y.png)
Abstract
En 中文
In One Life to Lead, Scheffler offers two formulations of the problem of temporal dissonance: one focuses on our epistemic and agential confinement to the present, the other focuses on the uncertain mine-ness of the past and future. After arguing that neither formulation identifies a problem of temporal dissonance, I develop Scheffler's second formulation in a way that may better capture a problem of temporal dissonance. That proposed formulation focuses on the contrast between experiencing the present self as the real me (and thus adopting a present-centered perspective on the self) and recognizing that past, present, and future selves equally experienced themselves as the real me (suggesting that one should take a temporally neutral perspective on the self). I end by explaining why maintaining a temporally neutral perspective is both difficult to maintain and also unnerving.
Keywords:
Temporal dissonance
Present-centered perspective
Temporally neutral perspective
Temporal persistence

