A future orientation for visual experiences

Abstract When we see the motion of a ball looming toward us, is there a sense in which we might be said to be visually aware of the impending collision? One may be immediately tempted to reply negatively if one assumes that we can visually experience only what is visible and what is happening now. Yet, I shall propose here that we can be visually aware of the close future qua the future. To do so, I will first argue that when one sees an object looming, one anticipatorily represents the endpoint of the motion and that this anticipatory representation is perceptual. I will then propose that perceptual anticipation is a constitutive part of visual experiences of looming objects by enabling a temporal form of amodal completion of the on‐going motion. I will finally assess the temporal implications of the intrinsic anticipatory component of visual experiences of looming objects and propose that visual experiences can be oriented toward the future.