ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that duration and other temporal magnitudes should be regarded as on a par with other physical magnitudes in accordance with the realistic treatment. In both the temporal and the spatial cases, the perception of the magnitude is unit-free, just as the magnitude itself is unit-free. Burge's own proposal about temporal representation in Origins of Objectivity is as follows: he believe that, at least in actual animal life, the functioning of temporal sensitivity in perception is necessary and sufficient for temporal representation. The coordination of later perceptions with earlier perceptions in representing the particular depends on sensitivity to temporal order. In a case of genuine perception of the duration of an event, that duration is fitted into the perceiving subject's local history of the world built up by the operation of Representational Preservation. Perception of a magnitude explains actions under relational characterizations, in relation to the very magnitude perceived.