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

By Peter Ludlow and Professor of Philosophy Peter Ludlow

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262122197
• ISBN13: 9780262122191
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Bradford Book
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"