Beyond the horizon of finality: Integrating indigenous relationality, chronobiological rhythms, and complexity theory into a multi-scalar legal framework

Abstract

Western law does not merely operate within time; it actively produces a singular, linear temporality that functions as an ontological infrastructure for erasure. This paper analyzes the chrononormative straitjacket, an Enlightenment-era inheritance from Cartesian-Newtonian mechanics, that embeds linear bias into the very architecture of legal reasoning, from statutes of limitation to causation tests. By prioritizing immediacy and definitive closure, modern jurisprudence inflicts temporal violence, rendering non-linear harms, such as the slow violence of climate collapse and intergenerational colonial trauma, legally invisible. Anchored in an inclusive synthesis of Indigenous relational temporalities, chronobiology, and complexity theory, this research advocates for a paradigm shift toward polytemporal legality. This transformative framework de-centers finality as a primary virtue, instead operationalizing a multi-scalar, epistemically humble jurisprudence capable of recognizing cyclical and ancestral temporalities essential for securing justice in the Anthropocene.