Language and Time
Department
Philosophy
Document Type
Book
Files
Description
This book offers a defense of the tensed theory of time, a critique of the New Theory of Reference, and an argument that simultaneity is absolute. Although Smith rejects ordinary language philosophy, he shows how it is possible to argue from the nature of language to the nature of reality. Specifically, he argues that semantic properties of tensed sentences are best explained by the hypothesis that they ascribe to events temporal properties of futurity, presentness, or pastness and do not merely ascribe relations of earlier than or simultaneity. He criticizes the New Theory of Reference, which holds that "now" refers directly to a time and does not ascribe the property of presentness. Smith does not adopt the old or Fregean theory of reference but develops a third alternative, based on his detailed theory of de re and de dicto propositions and a theory of cognitive significance. He concludes the book with a lengthy critique of Einstein's theory of time. Smith offers a positive argument for absolute simultaneity based on his theory that all propositions exist in time. He shows how Einstein's relativist temporal concepts are reducible to a conjunction of absolutist temporal concepts and relativist nontemporal concepts of the observable behavior of light rays, rigid bodies, and the like.
Call number in WMU's library
BD638 .S64 2002
ISBN
0195155947
Publication Date
1993
Disciplines
Philosophy of Language
Citation for published book
Smith, Quentin. Language and Time / Quentin Smith. 2002.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Quentin, "Language and Time" (1993). All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors. 715.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/books/715