Ontological Economics: A Phenomenological Theory of Time, Value and Economic Existence – E.M.Geyskens

Toward an Ontological Economics of Time: A Phenomenological Reconstruction of Economic Temporal Reduction

Contemporary economics has traditionally conceived time as a homogeneous operational variable enabling coordination, optimization and prediction. While this conception has generated considerable analytical and mathematical sophistication, it simultaneously obscures the more fundamental question of how economic reality is temporally disclosed. This paper argues that the prevailing conception of economic time represents not merely a methodological preference but an ontological transformation in the interpretation of economic existence itself.

The study develops an original phenomenological framework, termed Economic Temporal Reduction (ETR), to explain the historical predominance of Organizational Time within modern economic thought. Rather than offering another critique of capitalism or market rationality, the paper investigates the temporal conditions that make particular forms of economic intelligibility possible.

The analysis unfolds in four interconnected stages.

First, a genealogy of temporality reconstructs the principal modes through which time has disclosed itself throughout the philosophical tradition. From kairological and ethical conceptions of temporality to productive, uncertain, phenomenological and mathematical temporalities, economic history is interpreted as a progressive transformation in the temporal horizons through which economic reality becomes meaningful rather than as a succession of isolated economic doctrines.

Second, the paper develops a diagnosis of Economic Temporal Reduction. It demonstrates how Organizational Time gradually acquires interpretative predominance, eventually becoming the implicit horizon through which contemporary economic systems understand coordination, productivity and value. This diagnosis is supported by an original phenomenological formalization that models the progressive convergence of temporal horizons while preserving their ontological plurality. Rather than functioning as a positivistic mathematical model, this formal demonstration serves as a heuristic representation of the historical predominance of one temporal mode over alternative forms of temporal disclosure.

Third, the study investigates the phenomenology of reopening. Against the apparent closure produced by Economic Temporal Reduction, the paper identifies several existential experiences—including shame, conscience, poetic reason, laughter and resonance—as moments in which Organizational Time is interrupted and more primordial forms of temporality become accessible once again. These phenomena do not abolish economic rationality but disclose dimensions of human existence that cannot be exhausted by operational coordination or computational anticipation.

Finally, the paper proposes an ontological reorientation of economic value. Building upon the preceding phenomenological analysis, value is no longer understood exclusively as the outcome of accumulation, exchange or market efficiency. Instead, an original ontological concept of value is developed in which economic significance emerges from the intensity of temporal participation. This culminates in a phenomenological theory of value in which resonance constitutes a fundamental dimension of economic reality alongside conventional economic valuation.

The originality of this research lies in integrating phenomenology, ontology and economic theory into a unified conceptual framework. By shifting the analytical focus from economic behaviour to the temporal structures that render such behaviour intelligible, the paper introduces Ontological Economics as a new interdisciplinary research programme situated at the intersection of philosophy, economics and contemporary social theory. In doing so, it argues that the fundamental crisis of modern economics is not primarily one of markets, institutions or incentives, but of temporality itself. Recovering richer modes of temporal disclosure therefore becomes a necessary condition for rethinking economic value, human agency and the future of economic life.

Keywords: Ontological Economics; Economic Temporal Reduction; Temporality; Phenomenology; Heidegger; Organizational Time; Value Theory; Resonance; Poetic Reason; Shame; Conscience.