Presentismus

Presentismus is the view in the philosophy of time that only the present exists. According to presentism, the past and the future do not exist in the same sense as the present. This stance is often contrasted with eternalism, which holds that past, present, and future events are equally real, and with the growing-block theory, where past and present exist while the future does not.

Presentists typically maintain that temporal becoming is real and objective: objects and events come into being and cease to be as time passes, making the ontology of time fundamentally tense. In debates about physics, presentism faces challenges from special and general relativity, which imply a relativity of simultaneity and no single universal present. In response, some presentists propose a local or relativized present, a preferred foliation, or argue that physics does not by itself settle all metaphysical questions about existence.

Separately, the term presentismus is also used in historiography to describe the bias of interpreting past events through present-day values, knowledge, or standards. Critics warn that presentist readings risk anachronism and distortion of historical contexts, while proponents advocate methods that emphasize historical framing and sources to minimize bias.

Origin of the term traces to Latin praesent- “present” with the suffix -ismus, and it has been used in philosophical discussion since the 19th century. The topic remains a central point of contention in debates about time, existence, and how we relate past, present, and future.