ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to clarify what is and is not involved in two modes of apprehending time, and the way in which they interact. It argues that, according to Aristotle, one's intellectual grasp of time has an effect on one's perception of time for those beings who have intellect. Perceiving time, then, consists in either perceiving that time has passed by perceiving a number of nows, or perceiving how much time has passed, in purely relative terms, by perceiving the order as well as the number of nows. Aristotle talks of remembering time at De Memoria 2.452b30–453a4 rather than perceiving time and this raises a number of questions, the most obvious of which is whether Aristotle recognizes a difference between remembering and perceiving time. The chapter argues that commentators, both ancient and modern, have overemphasized the importance of counting in Aristotle's account of time at the expense of time perception.
