The Higher-Dimensional Reality of the Specious Present

Abstract This paper revisits the concept of the specious present to reframe the ongoing debate on temporal consciousness from a higher-dimensional perspective. Building on Henri Bergson’s notion of durée and Sonja Deppe’s interpretation of qualitative multiplicity, which addresses the tension between tense and extension, the study argues that the paradoxes in the analysis of time-consciousness stem from a spatialized yet one-dimensional framework. Rather than viewing the spatialization of time as mere misconception, I suggest considering it as a virtual dimension of reality. By distinguishing between virtual past and actual present dimensionally rather than essentially, the higher-dimensional model of the present resolves the tension between the one and the many moments – both necessary for the experience of succession – and thus supports the retentional view on temporal consciousness. Ultimately, the insights developed throughout this paper culminate in a visual model. The specious present takes on the structure of a spiral, which adopts a different dimensionality depending on the perspective – thus existing as both extended and tensed. By reconciling subjective and objective aspects of time, a phenomenologically grounded yet analytically structured account of temporal experience is developed – contributing to current debates on time-consciousness and offering new impulses for future work in the metaphysics of time.