The Invisible Thin Red Line

The aim of this paper is to argue that the adoption of an unrestricted principle of bivalence is compatible with a metaphysics that (i) denies that the future is real, (ii) adopts nomological indeterminism, and (iii) exploits a branching structure to provide a semantics for future contingent claims. To this end, we elaborate what we call Flow Fragmentalism, a view inspired by Kit Fine (2005)’s non-standard tense realism, according to which reality is divided up into maximally coherent collections of tensed facts. In this way, we show how to reconcile a genuinely A-theoretic branching-time model with the idea that there is a branch corresponding to the thin red line, that is, the branch that will turn out to be the actual future history of the world

Concepts of time and temporality in the storytelling and sensemaking literatures: a review and critique

A considerable body of literature exists on narratives and stories in explaining how individuals and groups make and give sense to their experiences in organizations. Classic Aristotelian narratives with a linear time structure (stories with a beginning, middle and end) are prominent in the storytelling literature, whereas retrospection, in drawing on the past in making sense of the present, is a temporal modality central to foundational concepts of sensemaking. In examining time and temporality in these related fields, the authors show how the conventional temporal sequence of a past, present and future dominates, with little consideration being given to time as a multiple rather than singular concept. The authors compare and contrast differences in the temporal aspects of mainstream theories and identify a growing interest in philosophical concepts of time. This review highlights how conventional explanations in these related fields of study are underpinned by linear conceptions of temporality (with an associated causality) and how there is growing recognition of fluidity in the way pasts and futures come together in temporal sensemaking of an emergent present. Although this movement towards explanations that engage with non‐linear modalities deepen insight, they do not explicitly address concepts of time. Time continues to receive scant attention, with temporal but ‘timeless’ theories taking precedence, ultimately constraining theoretical development. In building on this analysis, the authors characterize a range of temporal modalities from which they identify six pathways for charting out an agenda for future research in which multiple concepts of time and temporality are brought to the fore.Patrick Dawson and Christopher Syke