Roman Ingarden on Temporal Existence in the Context of Temporality Problems in Phenomenology in the 20th and 21st Centuries

Abstract

Roman Ingarden’s ontic approach to the problem of the temporality of human existence is considered in the context of the phenomenology of the 20th century and its significance in the development of the temporal problems of the 21st century. The author considers the continuity of the study of this theme and, to this purpose, compares the interpretations of the concept “temporality” in the phenomenology of Husserl, Heidegger, and Ingarden. In his concept, Ingarden defines temporal existence not only as a set of time experiences, but also as human actions performed in time. The author identifies the features of consideration of the onticontological question of time in the teachings of Ingarden and Heidegger, and determine the originality of Ingarden’s ideas. Their essence is that, in the ontic sense, time is not derived from experiences, but from human actions. The nature of time manifests itself in the destruction and death of any existence, and human existence as well. Time is not ecstatic in its divided moments of past, present, and future, and, by submitting to it, man loses oneself and becomes similar to an object. The dilemma of two “experiences of time”, which Ingarden’s followers tried to understand and accept one of the opposite positions in relation to time, became the main theme of his teaching. In considering it, Ingarden wanted to show the causes and results of the contradiction of a person’s temporal existence, in order to help one make the right choice and not to commit actions that lead one to lose oneself in the flow of time. The author analyzes the interpretations of the followers and critics of Ingarden’s ontic teaching about the diversity of temporal modalities, and determines the degree of its influence on the prospects for the contemporary development of temporal issues. Each of the modalities of the temporality of a person’s existence expresses a special image of one’s being, and, when changing, it can lead to this person’s transformations. Ingarden assigned a key place in his teaching to free action as a way of embodying the diversity of temporal experiences of a person. These ideas were perceived differently at the turn of the 21st century, and they certainly did not leave indifferent either the critics or the followers of the ontic approach to the study of temporality. If we further study Ingarden’s ideas and apply them to linguistics and psychology, we could find answers to many questions that are of interest to specialists in these fields of knowledge.