Archaeologia Polona

Some thoughts on the role of the perception of time in culture

Mateusz Wierciński

The article shows the consequences of Roman Ingarden's (1987) philosophical remarks on the human usage of time, which can have a creative or a destructive effect on culture. The two, fundamentally different, ways of perception or use of time, are discussed in their relation to the two types of culture, mostly applying Edward Hall's classification and interesting conclusions (1977). Hall's concept of the monochronic and polychronic time systems are presented here in brief. The problem of synchronization of social activity moves to the question of introducing a non-linear time-order. It is illustrated with the ethnographic data on the religion of contemporary Bushmen, provided by Bradford Keeney (2003), and confronted with Johann Tauler's statements. Consequently, looking for the sources of the inner power, one can find at least two answers depending on the experience of different time-orders. Finally, it is stated that living according to only one perception of time, characteristic of a monochronic culture, and which Andrzej Wiercinski names "the apish aperture of the present", is an adaptive illusion.

Keywords: Edward Hall, monochronic and polychronic cultures, perception of time, Roman Ingarden

Language: English