Temporal rhythms and social inclusion

Temporal rhythms and social inclusion.

Dr Elena Fell Tomsk Polytechnic University

AHRC Utopias, Futures and Temporalities: critical considerations for social change.

The link between ethics and time has not been

sufficiently developed so far.

Dr Elena Fell, Tomsk Polytechnic University

Ethics and Time

H. L. Dyke stresses the importance of linking ethics and time:“Ethics seeks answers to questions about the moral status of human actions and human lives. Actions and lives are temporal things. Thus, one would think that answers to ethical questions should take some account of their temporal features. And yet, while a number of authors have drawn attention to the relation between time and ethics (Derek Parfit and Thomas Nagel in particular), there has never been a systematic study of the impact of temporal considerations on ethical issues. There is a pressing need for an investigation into how time and ethics impact on each other. ”


H. L. Dyke (Ed.) Time and Ethics. Essays at the Intersection : 2003.

“This book leads the way in addressing that need. The essays in this collection raise and investigate some of the key issues that arise at the intersection between these two areas of philosophy. Anyone with an interest in ethics, (undergraduates, postgraduates and professional philosophers alike), will have a reason to read this book, as will anyone with an interest in the metaphysics of time, and how it connects with issues in other areas of philosophy.”


H. L. Dyke (Ed.)

Time and Ethics. Essays at the Intersection : 2003.

‘Temporal rhythms’ could be one area that falls within the framework of an investigation into the link between

ethics and time.


Temporal rhythms

Just as people differ in their physical characteristics and their aptitudes, they also differ in the way they negotiate time. Some of us do things faster or slower than others, and Bergson reflects on this stating that temporal rhythm is an important characteristic of human consciousness.


Bergson: temporal rhythms

Bergson describes consciousness as “a duration with its own determined rhythm, a duration very different from the time of the physicist, which can store up, in a given interval, as great a number of phenomena as we please.”[1]

[1] Bergson, H. Matter and Memory, transl. Nancy Margaret Paul and W. Scott Palmer. Zone Books, New York, 1991 , p. 205


Bergson: duration

Each instance of “duration” is different, as everyone’s consciousness operates at different rhythms: “In reality there is no one rhythm of duration; it is possible to imagine many different rhythms which, slower or faster, measure the degree of tension or relaxation of different kinds of consciousness and thereby fix their respective places in the scale of being.” [1]

[1] Ibid, p. 207


Duration and rhythm

However, society implicitly assumes that humans’ temporality, their perception of time and their capability to operate at standardised rates is or should be the same for all able-bodied individuals. Failure to fit in with the standardised rhythms of societal engagement can lead to social exclusion in the form of, for example, a timed exam failure or a job loss (if one cannot keep up with the pace).


Standardised rhythms

It is implicitly assumed that acting in accordance with externally prescribed rhythms is in principle achievable via training. Those who do not acquire the necessary skills of time management are not accommodated by society unless they have a disability that warrants “reasonable adjustments”, which may include allowing the individual more time to complete a particular process.[1]

[1] The Equality Act 2010, https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010 accessed 04/02/2015


Temporal rhythm and disability

But if some minds naturally operate at a faster rate, and some at a slower rate, then making someone’s natural rhythms fit in the procrustean bed of the standardized societal tempo that significantly differs from their own could be traumatic for some and unfeasible for others.


Natural rhythms

Should people be excluded from work or education on the basis of the way they negotiate time? Everyone will say no to this, but what the consequences would be if we decided not to do this – what would that mean for the practical norms and rules of social interaction?


Ethical problem

Whilst we take it for granted that human consciousness should be able to process incoming information and transform it into action at some standard speed in principle (performance standards at work), the truth is that individuals’ rhythms differ, and so do the natural rhythms of the same person depending on the time of day and their mood, affecting their level of concentration and performance.


We need to consider:

Prior to industrialisation people negotiated natural rhythms of weather, wildlife, climatic changes, etc. Craftsmanship, where an individual makes an object, is a temporally privileged situation where an individual is a master of his/ her time. The master/mistress can work at his/her individual speed, slow down or speed up as he or she feels like at the moment.

The industrial revolution and mass production changed this. The worker operating a machine must fit in with the constant rhythm of the tireless machine, violating his or her own natural rhythms that vary from time to time.

The digital age has introduced a new challenge: a person is expected to process a lot more information per unit of time than one can do so naturally and comfortably. A computer can process vast amounts of information, it delivers this information to us, and we are expected to utilise it as we receive it. Also, this information is varied, fragmented and constitutes diverse simultaneous lines of processes. The computer can simultaneously deal with different lines of information, and people are expected to be able to divide their attention between these different lines to fit in with digital technology. Multitasking is a requirement at a workplace nowadays, and it can be traumatic as one is expected to increasingly deal with more information than a human being can process per unit of time.

A factory worker (conveyer belt operator), an office employee and anyone who is ‘on time’ (checkout operator, hotel cleaner) are temporally disadvantaged compared to those who can work at their own pace: craftsman, painter, writer, teacher.


Workplace related issues

People have different temporal needs at different ages.

A young mother must violate her natural ‘slow’ rhythms in order to care for the needs of her baby, which are very fast.

Younger people operate at faster rhythms, they have experienced shorter total lived time and this affects their world view.

Older people operate at a slower pace, and experienced in total longer lived time.

Very old people are few in number, and, surrounded by younger ones who have not experienced the same length of lived time, are temporally marginalised and can be lonely in that sense. They constitute a temporal minority and experience temporal loneliness. Temporally lonely people know that they are lonely, but others do not realise that. This is another form of being temporally privileged (belonging to a majority of same age people) and temporally deprived (belonging to a temporal minority).


Diversity of natural rhythms

It is important to acknowledge the need to investigate the relation between human beings’ temporal rhythms and ethical issues.

This research will reveal a problem that has been submerged and unnoticed so far. This can improve communication between people in a workplace and community and also bring them closer to understanding their own nature and that of others.


Future research

This presentation was supported by Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The research was completed as part of the project “The Youth’s Portrait” of the Future: Methodology of Investigating Representations” funded by the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Fund. Grant Number 15-03-00812a.


Thank you


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Tomsk Polytechnic University

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Temporal rhythms and social inclusion