Time and Signs

Time is central for living. The basic philosophical statement is as follows—the reality of human living is a process of experiencing which is taking place in irreversible time. This is the axiomatic basis for all investigations of nature. However, as human beings, we feel that we exist in our present time. Today is one day, and a year is a present time unit that is prescribed by a calendar or by the arrival of the next birthday. We reflect upon ourselves as if we are, we exist, in some stable form. In reality we can only live forward—toward the future—and in that process, we make the present out of what is anticipated and possible. What has happened in our experience—and that is already part of the past—becomes presented by ourselves and for ourselves, as if it were present. We face future—which immediately becomes past. This linking for the future and the past takes place in the present. In this chapter the preparatory work linking semiotics (signs) and psychological phenomena running in irreversible time is set up.