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

Ludlow, Peter

ISBN 10: 0262122197 / ISBN 13: 9780262122191

Published by MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., 1999

About this Item

Seller Inventory # c26332

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Semantics, Tense and Time: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language
• Publisher: MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262122197
• ISBN 13: 9780262122191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy

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