Il tempo, la contraddizione e lo sguardo di Giano

The representation of Time in Western tradition appears to play two incompatible roles with respect to contradiction. On the one hand, its concept itself seems to be inconceivable as it is self-contradictory. On the other hand, the very fact that time flows seems to save change from giving rise to a self-contradiction. Such a twofold role played by time is due to its continuous and not-instantaneous character, namely, to the continuity that – like a two-faced Janus – looks simultaneously and ambiguously in two opposite directions. Shouldn’t we think then that behind such an ambiguity lies a metaphysically uncomposable break between the inalterable truth of being and the radical contingency of phenomenal reality?