Max Cresswell – författare

Past, Present and Future, first published in 1967, is the magnum opus of Arthur Norman Prior (1914-1969). Prior was the founding father of tense-logic: Past, Present, and Future presents his tense-logic as a powerful and precise formalism for the systematic study of the temporal aspects of reality. The book was the summation of a decade of work on tense-logic following Prior's John Locke lectures at the University of Oxford in 1956, subsequently published in 1957 as Time and Modality. Among a wide range of topics, Past, Present and Future investigates the idea of branching time that had earlier been suggested by Saul Kripke. It includes several philosophical investigations of time, from a discussion of McTaggart's paradox, the Master Argument of Diodorus, time and existence, problems regarding determinism and future contingency. Prior's discussion of these matters invited a broad scope of ancient and medieval philosophers into the modern discussion in the philosophy of time. Prior was spearheading a revolution in analytic philosophy. Unfortunately, Prior's choice of Polish logical notation has limited its influence. This new edition employs modern notation, making it accessible to a new generation of philosophers and logicians. It includes a new preface a postscript by the editors, which can serve as an introduction to this landmark work of analytic philosophy.

Interest in the metaphysics and logic of possible worlds goes back at least as far as Aristotle, but few books address the history of these important concepts. This volume offers new essays on the theories about the logical modalities (necessity and possibility) held by leading philosophers from Aristotle in ancient Greece to Rudolf Carnap in the twentieth century. The story begins with an illuminating discussion of Aristotle's views on the connection between logic and metaphysics, continues through the Stoic and mediaeval (including Arabic) traditions, and then moves to the early modern period with particular attention to Locke and Leibniz. The views of Kant, Peirce, C. I. Lewis and Carnap complete the volume. Many of the essays illuminate the connection between the historical figures studied, and recent or current work in the philosophy of modality. The result is a rich and wide-ranging picture of the history of the logical modalities.

Interest in the metaphysics and logic of possible worlds goes back at least as far as Aristotle, but few books address the history of these important concepts. This volume offers new essays on the theories about the logical modalities (necessity and possibility) held by leading philosophers from Aristotle in ancient Greece to Rudolf Carnap in the twentieth century. The story begins with an illuminating discussion of Aristotle's views on the connection between logic and metaphysics, continues through the Stoic and mediaeval (including Arabic) traditions, and then moves to the early modern period with particular attention to Locke and Leibniz. The views of Kant, Peirce, C. I. Lewis and Carnap complete the volume. Many of the essays illuminate the connection between the historical figures studied, and recent or current work in the philosophy of modality. The result is a rich and wide-ranging picture of the history of the logical modalities.