Time and Modality

Author(s):  
Ulrich Meyer

This chapter discusses modal logic: the logic of possibility and necessity. After a brief review of modal logic in the second section, the third section presents basic results of propositional tense logic. The fourth section develops a system of quantified tense logic. With these technical preliminaries out of the way, the fifth section explains why tense logic ultimately fails as a linguistic theory of verb tense. The sixth section presents the main objection to tense primitivism: that tense logic has insufficient expressive resources to serve as a metaphysical theory of time. The seventh section argues that the tense primitivist can overcome these problems by treating times as maximally consistent sets of sentences. The eighth section discusses a key difference between time and modality: the lack of a temporal analogue of actualism.

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 331-346
Author(s):  
Roger Navas

La estructura de la Chanson de Roland ha sido ampliamente analizada, siendo la polémica en torno al “Baligán” uno de los temas más frecuentados por la bibliografía crítica. En el presente artículo estudiamos en profundidad la laisse clxxxvii, una de las primeras del episodio, para, al margen del debate genético, revelar determinados paralelismos de orden estructural y semántico; describimos asimismo la función de estas resonancias dentro de la Chanson, en especial los modos en que ayudan a la transición entre sus dos mitades; y ello nos conduce a investigar un uso puntual de lo cómico en el cantar. Así, tras una breve introducción, en el segundo apartado analizamos formalmente la laisse, en el tercero la inscribimos en el cotexto, reconstruyendo el marco temporal de la historia, y finalmente en el cuarto estudiamos este componente cómico y su plasmación en la laisse. The structure of La Chanson de Roland has been deeply studied by many scholars; the debate surrounding “Baligant” is one of the recurrent topics. In this article, we focus on the laisse clxxxvii, which is placed at the start of the episode, in order to reveal certain structural and semantic parallelisms outside of the framework of the authenticity discussion; we also describe the function of these parallelisms, especially the way in which they help transition between the two halves of the Chanson; studying the purpose of these symbolic correspondences leads us to look into the existence of comical elements in the text. Accordingly, after a short introduction, the second section is dedicated to a formal analysis of the laisse, the third serves to contextualize it, reconstructing the temporal progression of the story, and finally the fourth section studies this comical component and its elaboration on the laisse.


Author(s):  
C.J.F. Williams

Prior is most often thought of as the creator of tense logic. (Tense logic examines operators such as ‘It will be the case that’ in the way that modal logic examines ‘It must be the case that’.) But his first book was on ethics, and his views on metaphysical topics such as determinism, thinking, intentionality, change, events, the nature of time, existence, identity and truth are of central importance to philosophy. Using methods akin to Russell’s in his Theory of Descriptions, he showed that times, events, facts, propositions and possible worlds were logical constructions. For example, we get rid of events by recognizing among other things that to say that the event of Caesar’s crossing the Rubicon took place later than the event of Caesar’s invading Britain is to say that it has been the case that both Caesar is crossing the Rubicon and it has been the case that Caesar is invading Britain. The title of the posthumous work, Worlds, Times and Selves (1977), indicates the breadth and depth of his thought. He is also fun to read. He died at the age of fifty-four, at the height of his powers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim J.C. Weren

Messianic peacemakers: Intertextual relationships between Zechariah 9-14 and the Gospel of Matthew. This article deals with images of war, violence and peace and with the role of messianic leaders in Deutero-Zechariah and the way in which texts from Zechariah 9–14 have been interpreted in the Gospel of Matthew. The first section describes the lines of meaning in Zechariah 9–14 on the basis of word fields related to violence and universal peace. The second section discusses Deutero-Zechariah’s own position in the development of messianic expectations in Old Testament texts. In the third section, the question is asked how the meaning of texts from Zechariah 9–14 about messianic leaders has been influenced by earlier prophetic texts, and how these texts in their turn have been transformed and updated in the Gospel of Matthew, which contains explicit quotations from Deutero-Zechariah in 21:5; 26:15; 26:31 and 27:9–10. The fourth section summarises some interesting semantic shifts appearing in Matthew’s gospel compared to Deutero-Zechariah. Moreover, some critical comments are presented against the idea defended in some recent studies that there is a sharp tension between Jesus’s role in Matthew as the bringer of a peaceful ethical message, and his violent and vindictive role at the final judgement. At the end of this article, the burning question is raised whether Zechariah’s and Matthew’s messages, both of which are characterised by a certain degree of exclusivity, can play a constructive role in modern multi-religious discussions about common roads leading to global peace.


Moreana ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (Number 181- (3-4) ◽  
pp. 9-68
Author(s):  
Jean Du Verger

The philosophical and political aspects of Utopia have often shadowed the geographical and cartographical dimension of More’s work. Thus, I will try to shed light on this aspect of the book in order to lay emphasis on the links fostered between knowledge and space during the Renaissance. I shall try to show how More’s opusculum aureum, which is fraught with cartographical references, reifies what Germain Marc’hadour terms a “fictional archipelago” (“The Catalan World Atlas” (c. 1375) by Abraham Cresques ; Zuane Pizzigano’s portolano chart (1423); Martin Benhaim’s globe (1492); Martin Waldseemüller’s Cosmographiae Introductio (1507); Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia (1513) ; Benedetto Bordone’s Isolario (1528) ; Diogo Ribeiro’s world map (1529) ; the Grand Insulaire et Pilotage (c.1586) by André Thevet). I will, therefore, uncover the narrative strategies used by Thomas More in a text which lies on a complex network of geographical and cartographical references. Finally, I will examine the way in which the frontispiece of the editio princeps of 1516, as well as the frontispiece of the third edition published by Froben at Basle in 1518, clearly highlight the geographical and cartographical aspect of More’s narrative.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 59-75
Author(s):  
JAROSLAV KLÁTIK ◽  
◽  
LIBOR KLIMEK

The work deals with implementation of electronic monitoring of sentenced persons in the Slovak Republic. It is divided into eight sections. The first section introduces restorative justice as a prerequisite of electronic monitoring in criminal proceedings. While the second section points out at the absence of legal regulation of electronic monitoring of sentenced persons at European level, the third section points out at recommendations of the Council of Europe addressed to European States. The fourth section analyses relevant alternative punishments in Slovak criminal justice. The fifth section introduces early beginnings of implementation of concerned system - the pilot project “Electronic Personnel Monitoring System” of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. While the sixth section is focused on Slovak national law regulating electronic monitoring of sentenced persons - the Act No. 78/2015 Coll. on Control of the Enforcement of Certain Decisions by Technical Instruments, the seventh section is focused on further amendments of Slovak national law - namely the Act No. 321/2018 Coll. and the Act No. 214/2019 Coll. The last eight section introduces costs of system implementation and its operation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-87
Author(s):  
Laura Carmen Cuțitaru

Abstract The 2016 much acclaimed American sci-fi movie Arrival is based on (what is in reality an extension of) the so-called “Sapir-Whorf” hypothesis, a linguistic theory set forth in the first half of the 20th century, according to which one’s native language dictates the way in which one perceives reality. By taking into account the latest in human knowledge, this paper tries to provide arguments as to why such a claim works wonderfully in fiction, but not in science.


SUHUF ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-72
Author(s):  
Ahmad Fathoni
Keyword(s):  

The object of the study of the knowledge of the variety of the Quranic reading  is the  Qur'an itself. The focus is on the difference of the reading and its articulation. The method is based on the riwayat or narration which is originated from the Prophet (Rasulullah saw) and its use is to be one of the instruments to keep the originality of the Qur’an. The validity of the reading the Qur’an is to be judged based on the valid chain  (sanad ¡a¥ī¥)  in accord with the Rasm U£mānÄ« as well as with the  Arabic grammar. Whereas the qualification of its originality is divided into six stages as follow: the first is mutawātir, the second is masyhÅ«r, the third is āhād, the fourth is syaz, the fifth is maudū‘, and the six is mudraj. Of this six catagories, the readings which can be included in the catagory of mutawātir are Qiraat Sab‘ah (the seven readings) and Qiraat ‘Asyrah  (the ten readings). To study this knowledge of reading the Qur’an (ilmu qiraat), one is advised to know about special terms being used such as  qiraat  (readings), riwayat (narration), tarÄ«q (the way), wajh (aspect), mÄ«m jama‘, sukÅ«n mÄ«m jama‘ and many others.


Author(s):  
Agustín Rayo

This article is divided into four sections. The first two identify different logicist theses, and show that their truth-values can be established given minimal assumptions. The third section sets forth a notion of “content-recarving” as a possible constraint on logicist theses. The fourth section—which is largely independent from the rest of the article—is a discussion of “neologicism.”


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hoffmann

AbstractCreativity is an important evolutionary adaptation that allows humans to think original thoughts, to find solutions to problems that have never been encountered before and to fundamentally change the way we live. One particular domain of human cognition that has received considerable attention is linguistic creativity. The present paper discusses how the leading cognitive linguistic theory, Construction Grammar, can provide an explanatory account of creativity that goes beyond the issue of linguistic productivity. At the same time, it also outlines how Construction Grammar can benefit from insights from Conceptual Blending.


Human Affairs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-342
Author(s):  
László Bernáth ◽  
János Tőzsér

AbstractOur paper consists of four parts. In the first part, we describe the challenge of the pervasive and permanent philosophical disagreement over philosophers’ epistemic self-esteem. In the second part, we investigate the attitude of philosophers who have high epistemic self-esteem even in the face of philosophical disagreement and who believe they have well-grounded philosophical knowledge. In the third section, we focus on the attitude of philosophers who maintain a moderate level of epistemic self-esteem because they do not attribute substantive philosophical knowledge to themselves but still believe that they have epistemic right to defend substantive philosophical beliefs. In the fourth section, we analyse the attitude of philosophers who have a low level of epistemic self-esteem in relation to substantive philosophical beliefs and make no attempt to defend those beliefs. We argue that when faced with philosophical disagreement philosophers either have to deny that the dissenting philosophers are their epistemic peers or have to admit that doing philosophy is less meaningful than it seemed before. In this second case, philosophical activity and performance should not contribute to the philosophers’ overall epistemic self-esteem to any significant extent.


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