Time

as 'abstract temporal value'

Morphological analysis

• Etymon: The word time derives from Old English tīma meaning 'limited period or season'.
• Morpheme breakdown: Root/Base time from Old English tīma 'a period, season, era' → 'limited period or season'.

Essential definition

While the historical etymology defines time as a limited period or season, the CoD model of ontology redefines time (past/present/future) as an abstract temporal value—a conceptual measure derived from the conference of difference we perceive as the present.^[1]

Semantic context

• Conventional sense: The inevitable progression into the future with the passing of present and past events. (Note: Semantic drift from essential meaning)
• Essential meaning (my usage): abstract temporal value

Philosophical significance

Redefining time as an abstract temporal value—rather than an existent dimension—philosophically resolves the enduring conflict between lived temporal experience and physical description. It shifts time from being a fundamental thing to being a measure derived from the only ontological primitive: the dynamic conference of difference sensed as the present. This reframing dissolves the false dichotomy of presentism versus eternalism and repositions time as a navigational tool for consciousness, not a container for reality.

Usage in this lexicon

When I use the word time in my work, I mean exactly 'abstract temporal value'. This definition:

• resolves the map vs. terrain error by clearly distinguishing between the abstract model (time) and the ontological reality (the conference of difference);
• dissolves the false dichotomy between presentism and eternalism by showing both mistakenly reify time as an existent dimension or moment;
• provides a coherent foundation for the phenomenological experience of time's flow, explaining it as an emergent narrative constructed from the present-moment conference of difference;
• clarifies the ontological status of past and future as present-moment activities (recollection and projection), not existent locations;
• aligns with modern physics by treating time as a variable or parameter in equations—an abstract tool for description, not a fundamental entity;
• offers a path to reconcile the hard problem of time by explaining temporal asymmetry (the arrow of time) as a feature of the irreversible transformations within the conference of difference;
• removes the metaphysical burden of a 'block universe' or 'growing block', eliminating the need for a static or expanding four-dimensional reality;
• preserves the reality of change and process without requiring time as a container, grounding dynamism in the conference of difference itself;
• reframes free will vs. determinism debates by defining the future as a domain of unrealized potential actively negotiated in the present, not a fixed region;
• simplifies the integration of quantum indeterminacy and relativistic spacetime by treating time as an abstract value emergent from a more fundamental process ontology;
• enhances interdisciplinary dialogue by providing a neutral, non-reifying conceptual framework that can be adapted in physics, philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science;
• avoids paradoxes of time travel and backward causation by grounding the past in the ontological irreversibility of expressed actions, not in a traversable dimension;
• supports a clearer understanding of memory, anticipation, and consciousness as functions of the present-moment conference of difference, not as access to other temporal realms; and
• strengthens the explanatory power of the conference of difference model by making it the sole ontological primitive, with time as a derived, abstract measure.

Sources

• Wiktionary

*This definition follows morphological essentialism principles. See the Methodology for details.