Semantics, Tense, and Time: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language

Ludlow, Peter

ISBN 10: 0262122197 / ISBN 13: 9780262122191

Published by The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1999

About this Item

Hardcover with jacket. Very good condition. Slight wear on the hardcover spine ends. All pages are clean and clear. CM.

Seller Inventory # 467175

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Semantics, Tense, and Time: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language
• Publisher: The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262122197
• ISBN 13: 9780262122191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Book Type: Used
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

According to Peter Ludlow, there is a very close relation between the structure of natural language and that of reality, and one can gain insights into long-standing metaphysical questions by studying the semantics of natural language. In this book Ludlow uses the metaphysics of time as a case study and focuses on the dispute between A-theorists and B-theorists about the nature of time. According to B-theorists, there is no genuine change, but a permanent sequence of events ordered by an earlier-than/later-than relation. According to the version of the A-theory adopted by Ludlow (a position sometimes called presentism), there are not past or future events or times; what makes something past or future is how the world stands right now.

Review

" A notable work in many respects, with an extremely interesting discussion of the prospects for giving the semantics of tense in a tensed metalanguage. "Semantics, Tense, and Time" exemplifies the recent, very productive, evolution of the philosophy of language, with its characteristic amalgam of linguistics, metaphysics, and logic." -- James Higginbotham, Professor of General Linguistics, University of Oxford

& quot; A notable work in many respects, with an extremely interesting discussion of the prospects for giving the semantics of tense in a tensed metalanguage. Semantics, Tense, and Time exemplifies the recent, very productive, evolution of the philosophy of language, with its characteristic amalgam of linguistics, metaphysics, and logic.& quot; -- James Higginbotham, Professor of General Linguistics, University of Oxford

"A notable work in many respects, with an extremely interesting discussion of the prospects for giving the semantics of tense in a tensed metalanguage. "Semantics, Tense, and Time" exemplifies the recent, very productive, evolution of the philosophy of language, with its characteristic amalgam of linguistics, metaphysics, and logic."--James Higginbotham, Professor of General Linguistics, University of Oxford