specious present

American  

noun

Philosophy.

1. a short time span in which change and duration are alleged to be directly experienced.

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Example Sentences

When the finger-tip leaves the filled space, part of it, because of its length, has already, as it were, left the specious present, and has suffered the foreshortening effect of being relegated to the past.

From Harvard Psychological Studies, Volume 1 Containing Sixteen Experimental Investigations from the Harvard Psychological Laboratory. by Münsterberg, Hugo

Succession can occur within the specious present, of which we can distinguish some parts as earlier and others as later.

From The Analysis of Mind by Russell, Bertrand

But this present is not the momentary meeting-place of two eternities or the brief span of time which psychologists have named 'the specious present'.

From The Unity of Civilization by Various

Spatial and temporal relations must sometimes be included, for example in the case of a swift motion falling wholly within the specious present.

From Our Knowledge of the External World as a Field for Scientific Method in Philosophy by Russell, Bertrand

The specious present includes elements at all stages on the journey from sensation to image.

From The Analysis of Mind by Russell, Bertrand