Tensed Sentences and Free Repeatability

Philosophers often distinguish tensed from tenseless sentences, and with the aid of this distinction go on to make a variety of claims about such topics as the status of temporal becoming, subjective vs. objective time, thing-ontologies vs. event-ontologies, and perspicuous languages. The most promi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Philosophical review 1973-04, Vol.82 (2), p.188-214
Main Author: Braude, Stephen E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bachelors
Circles
Eastern philosophy
Philosophical analysis
Predicates
Sentences
Temporality
Truth condition
Truth value
Verbs
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Summary:Philosophers often distinguish tensed from tenseless sentences, and with the aid of this distinction go on to make a variety of claims about such topics as the status of temporal becoming, subjective vs. objective time, thing-ontologies vs. event-ontologies, and perspicuous languages. The most prominent accounts of tensed and tenseless sentences link the unique semantic behavior of tensed sentences to truth-value variability, variability of sense, or the ascribing of certain kinds of temporal properties to events. These accounts are criticized, and a novel analysis of the distinction between tensed and tenseless sentences is offered. The analysis of this distinction focuses on certain interesting features of the truth-conditions of tensed sentences, and surmounts the difficulties besetting the more familiar accounts.
ISSN:0031-8108
1558-1470
DOI:10.2307/2183768