Pour une culture politique du temps. Quel dialogue entre passé, présent, avenir ?

For a Political Culture of Time
Jean Chesneaux here shows how the distinction between present, past and future – or the tripartition of time – has a legitimate foundation because of the very different nature of these three instances (ek-stases), and how in particular the past and future are essential to give meaning to the present, and allow us to be totally responsible vis-à-vis a future which in essence has yet to be created.
He denounces the primacy granted today to the present (presentism) which, renouncing its role as a link between memory and projection, makes it meaningless, and deprives it of its essential attribute, that of being the privileged moment when the will of man and society is expressed.
While “everything conspires to attempt to break the hourglass of time”, Jean Chesneaux invites us to “dwell in time” in its three dimensions, each throwing light on the others and contributing to the “political culture of time”, which alone allows us to escape its bondage.