The Event and its Shadow: Perception, Memory, Being, State

Abstract

The article discusses the relationship between the past and the present. According to the common perception of time, the difference between the past and the present would be ontological: while the present is (it corresponds to Being), the past was (it is not any more). In conflict with this thesis and in agreement with the special theory of relativity, the author argues that all we can know belongs to the past, whereas the present (as well as the future) is unknowable. In order to strengthen his statement, the author investigates human cognition, focusing on the difference between material sensations and mental products. He also deals with the ontological status of the past, trying to clarify why we can only know the past (in this context, he proposes a new interpretation of Parmenides’ definition of Being). On the basis of these arguments, the author concludes that the difference between the past and the present should be considered as gnoseological.