The future as a mode of temporal consciousness: a comparative analysis of Buddhist Kṣaṇikavāda and Husserl’s phenomenology of internal time.
https://doi.org/10.53315/2782-3377-2026-6-2-106-118
Abstract
The article is devoted to an analysis of the future as a distinct mode of the temporal structure of consciousness, comparing the Buddhist doctrine of momentariness (kṣaṇikavāda) and Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology of internal time. The initial problem concerns the question of how the experience of the future is possible if consciousness is conceived not as a continuous substantial duration, but as a stream of momentarily arising and perishing states. It is shown that the phenomenological concept of protention allows us to describe the future as a horizon of expectation and anticipation rooted in the actual “now.” In Husserl’s phenomenology, protention is inseparably linked with retention, forming the unity of the temporal flow. Buddhist philosophy radicalizes this problem: the illusion of temporal duration is connected to the activity of the mind (manas), which mistakenly ascribes stability to the stream of dharmas. Consequently, the future is regarded not as an independent ontological domain, but as a dependently arising structure of experience conditioned by memory, expectation, intention, and karmic causality. In Buddhism, the future turns out to be a function of current mental states and their karmic consequences. It is concluded that the Buddhist worldview does not eliminate the problem of the future but rather shifts it from the plane of objective physical time to the plane of the analysis of consciousness, causality, and becoming, offering an alternative to substantialist models of temporality.
About the Authors
V. V. Vorobyev
Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Valery Vadimirovich Vorobyev, Ph.D., senior research scientist
Elista
M. E. Tyumidova
B.B. Gorodovikov Kalmyk State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Marina Egorovna Tyumidova, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies
Elista
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Review
For citations:
Vorobyev V.V., Tyumidova M.E. The future as a mode of temporal consciousness: a comparative analysis of Buddhist Kṣaṇikavāda and Husserl’s phenomenology of internal time. Nomadic civilization: historical research. 2026;6(2):106-118. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.53315/2782-3377-2026-6-2-106-118
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