The present as unique experience is the focus of this deep analysis of the basic
structure of temporality and consciousness. Mead emphasizes the novel character
of both the present and the past. Though science is predicated on the assumptio
n that the present is predictable based on a thorough knowledge of the past, the
experience of the present, says Mead, is an utterly unique moment comparable to
no other, and when it is past the novel character of that unique experience is
irrevocable.
The emergence of novelty within the perceived rational order of re
ality is the crux of the problem that Mead explores. The present, in his words,
is "the emergent event . . . something which is more than the processes that hav
e led up to it and which by its change, continuance, or disappearance, adds to l
ater passages a content they would not otherwise have possessed." The present as
"the seat of reality" heavily conditions our retrospective view of the past as
much as it helps to shape the future.
