The Temporal Mind

Memories, sensory experiences, expectations, and intentions, as well as thoughts, fears, and hopes: all share a fundamental trait, the fact that our conscious psychological states take place in time, and often are about time in some way or other. Temporality is an inescapable feature of the mind which has preoccupied philosophers and psychologists in diverse traditions such as Locke, Hume, Reid, Kant, Helmholtz, James, Husserl, Broad, and Bergson.

The Temporal Mind: A Philosophical Introduction is the first book to offer a detailed critical survey of recent work on the perception of time and the temporal features of the mind. Philippe Chuard introduces some of the central topics in contemporary discussions of the temporal mind and the perception of time:

how psychological states occur in time and convey temporal informationthe stream of consciousness, duration, and how short conscious experiences may bethe continuity and unity of conscious experiencehow sensory perception in particular can represent the timing of perceived eventsthe debate between extensionalism, retentionalism, and the snapshot conception of temporal experiences, as well as between temporal holism and atomismtemporal illusions (such as the flash-lag effect) and what they reveal about temporal representationtemporality in neuroscience and neuroscientific explanations of perceptionIncluding additional features such as suggested further readings sections and a glossary, The Temporal Mind is an ideal starting point for any student in philosophy of mind and perception, and cognate fields in psychology and cognitive science.