# The experience of time and change **Abstract:** Can we directly experience change? Although some philosophers have denied it, the phenomenological evidence is unambiguous: we can, and do. But how is this possible? What structures or features of consciousness render such experience possible? A variety of very different answers to this question have been proposed, answers which have very different implications for the nature of consciousness itself. In this brief survey no attempt is made to engage with the often complex (and sometimes obscure) literature on this topic. Instead, a largely schematic examination of the main options is conducted, with a view to determining the most promising avenues for further investigation. Passage, Experience and Paradox From the vantage point of common sense there are two main respects in which time and space seem very different: time has but one dimension whereas space has three, and time passes whereas space does not. Of these differences the latter looks to be the more fundamental. For if time were deprived of passage – if the present were not constantly advancing into the future – how would it differ from a space of just one dimension? But despite the seemingly obvious, there are many who doubt that time does in fact pass. According to the many contemporary proponents of the four-dimensional ‘block’ model there is no ontological difference between the past, present or future, for all events are equally (and fully) real, irrespective of when they occur; the present time is not in the lea **Authors:** [[dainton]]