To the problem of modernity in the context of historical time

The article attempts to interpret Modern times as an epoch reflected on as an individual experience by the example of perceiving historical time. The author singles out some features of time perception presented by Z. Bauman and J. Habermas as specific characteristics of the era of Modern/New Times. The analysis showed that only a part of these time perception characteristics could be referred to the shifts that define the epoch specificity (emergence of vehicles, instruments for time measurement, etc.). The other ones could be taken as a kind of individual experience of modernity, in particular, the intensity of “now” experience which can possibly act as an indicator of major cultural shifts. And a sensation of time as unique and accelerated should be viewed in the context of the “aberration of proximity” as an inclination to overestimate closer-in-time events. There is the necessity to take into consideration an observer's degree of awareness about the events beyond his daily experience, his theoretical instruction including insights into other cultures’ history. This is helpful to avoid “aberration of distance” as the underestimation of the past.