Episode 15: THE ONTOLOGY OF TIME - ALEXIS KARPOUZOS

The Ontology of Time in the Philosophy of Alexis Karpouzos Alexis Karpouzos stands among the most original thinkers of our time in his radical re-visioning of time. For him, the question of time is not a secondary problem within metaphysics but the very ground upon which any genuine planetary thought must stand. In Karpouzos’ philosophy, time is neither the linear succession of moments taught by classical physics nor the subjective flow of consciousness described by phenomenology. Instead, he proposes an ontology of time that is spherical, open, and indivisible from the mystery of the cosmos itself. Beyond Linear Time: The Spherical Spacetime At the core of Karpouzos’ ontology lies the concept of spherical spacetime. Time, in this view, is not a straight arrow moving from past to future. It is a living, self-contained sphere in which all temporal dimensions coexist without hierarchy or exclusion. The past is not “behind” us, the future is not “ahead,” and the present is not a fleeting point between them. Rather, every moment contains the whole of time in a dynamic, pulsating unity. This spherical conception dissolves the classical metaphysical oppositions that have haunted Western philosophy: being versus becoming, eternity versus temporality, permanence versus change. Karpouzos does not simply negate these dualisms; he shows that they arise only when thought attempts to arrest the movement of reality within fixed categories. In spherical spacetime, time is the very movement of the open totality — a continuous differentiation in which forms arise, dissolve, and return to their source without ever leaving the sphere of the whole. The Timeless Time (Άχρονος Χρόνος) One of Karpouzos’ most profound contributions is his notion of timeless time (άχρονος χρόνος). This is not the negation of time but its deepest realization. When consciousness enters the dimension of silence — the still center of the cosmic spiral — chronological time is not abolished but transfigured. The linear “before” and “after” collapse into a single, living now that is simultaneously eternal and momentary. In this state, time reveals itself as the self-unfolding of the cosmos. It is not a container in which events happen; it is the happening itself. The ontology of time, therefore, is inseparable from the ontology of silence. Only in silence can thought experience time as pure presence rather than as a sequence of absences. This is why Karpouzos repeatedly links the experience of timeless time with poetic language and contemplative attention: both suspend the ego’s compulsion to measure and control, allowing time to speak in its own original voice.