Abstract

This article explores Descartes's philosophy of time as articulated in the 'non-endurance doctrine' in the Third Meditation. I argue that what has been overlooked in prior readings of this doctrine is acknowledgement that it is articulated by a fictional character within a fictional span of time. The text, therefore, expresses a temporal reality, as well as articulating a temporal theory. I explore the temporality of the text, and the fictionality of the narrator, through the lens of Monika Fludernik's theory of experiential narrative.