The present is a perpetual flight from being rather than a moment

Evidence

The present is precisely this negation of being, this escape from being inasmuch as being is there as that from which one escapes. The For-itself is present to being in the form of flight; the Present is a perpetual flight in the face of being. Thus we have precisely defined the fundamental meaning of the Present: the Present is not. The present instant emanates from a realistic and reifying conception of the For-itself; it is this conception which leads us to denote the For-itself according to the mode of that which is and that to which it is present—for example, of that hand on the face of the clock. In this sense it would be absurd to say that it is nine o’clock for the For-itself, but the For-itself can be present to a hand pointed at nine o’clock. What we falsely call the Present is the being to which the present is presence. It is impossible to grasp the Present in the form of an instant, for the instant would be the moment when the present is. But the present is not; it makes itself present in the form of flight. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 445

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the Present as the For-itself’s non-being and perpetual flight, correcting the reifying clock-time notion of the instant.
• XREF: connects to: Modern time conception treats the present as continually moving — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 116; Life’s present continuously stretches into the future rather than aiming at fixed goals — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 807; Life alone realizes time by transcending the present in both directions — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 808 (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Modern time conception treats the present as continually moving #expands (0.80) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 116
• Life alone realizes time by transcending the present in both directions #corroborates (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 808
• Lived life always experiences the present as stretched with past and future #corroborates (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 803
• Life’s self-transcendence makes time real, unlike analytical separation of tenses #corroborates (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 809
• Time is not the container of becoming but is itself the becoming #expands (0.80) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 257
• Life’s present continuously stretches into the future rather than aiming at fixed goals #corroborates (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 807
• Treating time as a series of nows annihilates past, present, and future alike #corroborates (0.78) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 408
• Time is constituted by the For-itself’s nothingness rather than inhering in objects #expands (0.78) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1524
• The present as pure being is an infinitesimal instant that reduces to nothingness #expands (0.75)
• Temporality is the necessary horizon for the for-itself’s transcendence #expands (0.75)
• Tradition places the present at the center of time, not on a linear path #qualifies (0.75)