The traditional view of time is based on binary categories such as past/present/future, clock time versus flowing time, linear time, etc.
Recent research has highlighted how these concepts can be problematic when applied to non-binary identities.
Some genderqueer individuals may experience time differently due to their unique identity characteristics that challenge binary categorizations of time. This essay will explore this issue in more detail by examining how non-binary understandings of time unsettle moral expectations about consistency, progress, and virtue.
Non-Binary Understandings of Time
Non-binary understandings of time are characterized by fluidity, interconnectedness, and multiple dimensions. They reject the idea of time being linear and instead see it as cyclical or circular.
Queer theorist Lee Edelman argues that there is no one true "before" or "after" because everything happens simultaneously in non-binary temporalities. Similarly, Indigenous cultures often conceptualize time as circular and cyclical rather than linear and progressive. This perspective challenges Western conceptions of time as linear and goal-oriented, which presume that progress is always forward-moving towards a pre-determined endpoint.
Implications for Morality
Non-binary understandings of time have implications for morality. Traditional views of time emphasize consistency and predictability, but non-binary understandings disrupt these assumptions.
Some non-binary people experience time as non-linear, making it difficult to adhere to societal norms based on chronological order. This can create conflicts with social expectations around punctuality and conformity.
Non-binary time perspectives can undermine the notion of progress, since they suggest that there may be no clear end goal to work towards.
Non-binary understandings of time also challenge notions of virtue, suggesting that moral development does not necessarily follow a predetermined path but can occur in unexpected ways and at any point in life.
Non-binary understandings of time unsettle traditional moral expectations about consistency, progress, and virtue. By rejecting binary categories of past/present/future and embracing fluidity, interconnectedness, and multiple dimensions, non-binary identities offer an alternative view of time that highlights its complex nature. These perspectives can help us rethink our notions of time, allowing us to better understand ourselves and others.
How might non-binary understandings of time unsettle moral expectations about consistency, progress, and virtue?
Non-binary understandings of time can challenge traditional views of temporal continuity by emphasizing the simultaneous existence of multiple pasts, presents, and futures. This challenges our assumptions about the linear progression of history and morality, which are often grounded in a Western tradition that prioritizes causality, teleology, and progress towards an idealized future.