Now Is Not the Time

Abstract

Experts on Avicenna’s natural philosophy are in agreement that for Avicenna, time exists as the result of a now which flows and which through its flow produces time. Having been a prominent interpretation of Aristotle’s account of time in the Physics, the theory of the ‘flowing now’ was known to Avicenna from ancient and late ancient commentaries, and is mentioned in his most detailed discussion of time from his seminal work The Cure. It is, however, absent from all his other accounts of time and even within his argumentation in The Cure, there are strong, heretofore neglected reasons to believe that Avicenna ultimately did not adopt this idea. This article provides a full investigation of Avicenna’s theory of the now and investigates its position within the larger context of his temporal theory, arguing—against the current consensus—that for Avicenna, time is not produced by the now through its flow.