Past, present, and future names correspond to nothing real in the world

Evidence

Down to the present time, whatsoever be this present time, whether the time of writing this, or the time of any one’s reading it, whatsoever has existed has had existence, – whatsoever has not existed has not had existence; at this time whatsoever does exist, has existence, – whatsoever does not exist has not existence; and so at any and every future point of time. Throughout the whole expanse of time, past, present, and future, put together, where will room be found for anything real to answer to any of these names? — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 611

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Bentham’s treatment of time-words as fictitious entities with no real referent.
• XREF: connects to: Language’s naming habit makes people mistake fictitious entities for real ones — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 404; Chronological periodization distorts the meaning of historical processes.

Related

• Language’s naming habit makes people mistake fictitious entities for real ones (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Chronological periodization distorts the meaning of historical processes. #complicates (0.80)