Abstract

This thesis examines Heideggerian and Marxist notions of time and social being, and uses these to understand contemporary transformations in the experience of temporality. Following Heidegger, I suggest that "to think one's time" it is necessary not only to think the contents of that time , but equally to account for the coming into being, or the temporalization of the structures of time in which events occur. I develop the distinction between the "event" and "structure" of time through readings of Heidegger's relation to Kant, Bergson and Aristotle, and show how it is manifest in the contemporary political thought of Jean-Luc Nancy, Ernesto Laclau and Jacques Derrida. Finally, I use the differentiation between "event" and "structure" to examine transformations in the experience of temporality brought about by the accelerated speed of the exchange of information in tele-technologies, the production of value in late capitalism, and the impact of these changes on cultural and economic events in Atlantic Canada and Newfoundland.