Temporal Logic
This book is an introduction to temporal logic, a now flourishing branch of philosophical logic whose origin is of recent date, its main impetus having been provided by the publication in the late 1950s of A. N. PRIOR'S pioneering book, Time and Modality
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Springer-Verlag Wien New York
UP
Library of Exact Philosophy
Nicholas Rescher and Alasdair Urquhart
Temporal Logic
Springer-Verlag Wien New York 1971
3
Printing type: Sabon Roman Composed and printed by Herbert Hiessberger, Pottenstein Binding work: Karl Scheibe, Wien Design: Hans Joachim Boning, Wien
ISBN-13:978-3-7091-7666-S
e-ISBN-13:978-3-7091-7664-1
DOl: 10.1007/978-3-7091-7664-1
All rights reserved No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from Springer-Verlag © 1971 by Springer-VerlagIWien Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1971 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-141565
Arthur Prior In Memoriam
General Preface to the LEP The aim of the Library of Exact Philosophy is to keep alive the spirit, if not the letter, of the Vienna Circle. It will consequently adopt high standards of rigor: it will demand the clear statement of problems, their careful handling with the relevant logical or mathematical tools, and a critical analysis of the assumptions and results of every piece of philosophical research. Like the Vienna Circle, the Library of Exact Philosophy sees in mathematics and science the wellsprings of contemporary intellectual culture as well as sources of inspiration for some of the problems and methods of philosophy. The Library of Exact Philosophy will also stress the desirability of regarding philosophical research as a cooperative enterprise carried out with exact tools and with the purpose of extending, deepening, and systematizing our knowledge about human knowledge. But, unlike the Vienna Circle, the Library of Exact Philosophy will not adopt a school attitude. It will encourage constructive work done across school frontiers and it will attempt to minimize sterile quarrels. And it will not restrict the kinds of philosophical problem: the Library of Exact Philosophy will welcome not only logic, semantics and epistemology, but also metaphysics, value theory and ethics as long as they are conceived in a clear and cogent way, and are in agreement with contemporary science. Montreal, January 1970 Mario Bunge
Preface This book is an introduction to temporal logic, a now flourishing branch of philosophical logic whose origin is of recent date, its main impetus having been provided by the publication in the late 1950s of A. N. PRIOR'S pioneering book, Time and Modality (Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1957). Virtually all work in the field to around 1966 is surveyed in PRIOR'S elegant treatise Past, Present and Future (Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1967). In consequence, it is no simple matter to write a comprehensive book on the subject without merely rehearsing material already dealt with in PRIOR'S works. We believe, however, that the present book succeeds in this difficult endeavor because it approaches established materials from wholly novel points of departure, and is thus able to attain new perspectives and achieve new results. Its introductory character notwithstanding, the present work is consequently in substantial
