In Celebration of Past, Present and Future

TY - CHAP

T1 - In Celebration of Past, Present and Future

AU - Hasle, Per Frederik Vilhelm

AU - Jakobsen, David

AU - Øhrstrøm, Peter

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - A.N. Prior’s Past, Present and Future was published 50 years ago in 1967 and was clearly a milestone in the development of tense-logic. It is a mature and comprehensive presentation of the basic concepts, systems and issues in tense-logic. In addition it also contains a number of interesting ideas that later led to important further developments of the field. Past, Present and Future represents a culmination of Prior’s struggle with the problem of determinism (including his study of the tension between the doctrines of divine foreknowledge and human freedom). Prior’s study of the problem of determinism led him to a reconstruction of the famous Diodorean Master Argument which had for centuries been regarded as a strong argument in favour of determinism. In his further analysis of the problem, he made extensive use of tense-logic and the idea of branching time suggested to him by Saul Kripke. However, in Past, Present and Future Prior also stresses that time as such should not simply be understood in terms of branching time diagrams. Such diagrams should be seen not as direct representations of time but rather as figures helpful for understanding a deeper tense-logical structure.

AB - A.N. Prior’s Past, Present and Future was published 50 years ago in 1967 and was clearly a milestone in the development of tense-logic. It is a mature and comprehensive presentation of the basic concepts, systems and issues in tense-logic. In addition it also contains a number of interesting ideas that later led to important further developments of the field. Past, Present and Future represents a culmination of Prior’s struggle with the problem of determinism (including his study of the tension between the doctrines of divine foreknowledge and human freedom). Prior’s study of the problem of determinism led him to a reconstruction of the famous Diodorean Master Argument which had for centuries been regarded as a strong argument in favour of determinism. In his further analysis of the problem, he made extensive use of tense-logic and the idea of branching time suggested to him by Saul Kripke. However, in Past, Present and Future Prior also stresses that time as such should not simply be understood in terms of branching time diagrams. Such diagrams should be seen not as direct representations of time but rather as figures helpful for understanding a deeper tense-logical structure.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Past, Present and Future, tense-logic, determinism, branching time, the tensed view of time

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-87-7210-009-8

VL - I

T3 - Logic and Philosophy of Time: Themes from Prior

SP - 9

EP - 28

BT - Logic and Philosophy of Time - Themes from Prior

A2 - Hasle, Per

A2 - Blackburn, Patrick

A2 - Øhrstrøm, Peter

PB - Aalborg Universitetsforlag

CY - Aalborg

ER -