Specious Present

The specious present is defined as the "supposed time between past and future" or "a present that lasts a short stretch of physical time". The term was coined by E. R. Clay in his 1882 book ''The Alternative: A Study in Psychology'', and cited by William James in ''The Principles of Psychology''. It can be classed as a "thick" conception of time perception, to be contrasted with "thin" conceptions that see the present as instantaneous.

Description

Clay (a pseudonym for E. Robert Kelly) wrote in ''The Alternative: A Study in Psychology'' (1882):

The concept was developed by philosopher William James. In his 1886 article "The Perception of Time", he wrote that "the prototype of all conceived times is the specious present, the short duration of which we are immediately and incessantly sensible". In ''The Principles of Psychology'' (1890) James includes the Clay quote above, adding, "In short, the practically cognized present is no knife-edge, but a saddle-back, with a certain breadth of its own on which we sit perched, and from which we look in two directions into time. The unit of composition of our perception of time is a duration, with a bow and a stern, as it were—a rearward- and a forward-looking end."

C. D. Broad further elaborated on the concept in ''Scientific Thought'' (1923), writing, "Every place to which an observer's body can go is a possible ''Here''. In the same way every event either is, has been or will be ''Now'', on the ordinary view, provided it be short enough to fall into what psychologists call a ''Specious Present''."

The "specious present" has been a subject of discussion in many books and articles about the perception of time, and raises many issues in philosophy and psychology.

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{{Time Topics

Present
Concepts in the philosophy of mind
Time in life
Perception