Semantics, Tense, and Time: An Essay in the Metaphysics of Natural Language (review)

Peter Ludlow’s work lies at the intersection of linguistics, philosophy, and logic and will be of interest to anyone working in these fields. L argues for a close relationship between natural language and reality. His argument is supported by a detailed study of the nature of time and the semantics of tense as viewed in the so-called A- and B-theories of tense. According to B-theorists, time is a sequence of tenseless events ordered by an earlier-than/later-than relation, whereas according to A-theorists, events have genuine temporal status.

In Ch. 1 L discusses the nature of language and the conception of the I-language, which is part of our biological endowment. Ch. 2 offers a brief overview of semantic theory and explains why this theory should take the form of an absolute truth-conditional semantics. In Ch. 3 L introduces a number of resources required for the development of the semantics of tense (indexicals and propositional-attitude constructions). Ch. 4 analyzes how metaphysical commitments can arise within the basic semantic framework outlined in Ch. 2. This analysis is illustrated by an overview of the metaphysical commitments imposed on us by our use of noun phrases and basic predicates. Ch. 5 provides the reader with a brief examination of semantic theories consistent with the B-theory of tense along with its basic philosophical presuppositions. L outlines the problems faced by the theory and explores its metaphysical consequences. Ch. 6 outlines the problems with B-theory semantics, most crucially, its inability to solve the problem of indexicality and to meet the demand on our metaphysics placed by semantics and psychology. Ch. 7 builds a semantics of tense consistent with the A-theory and outlines its metaphysical consequences and the standard objections it faces. Ch. 8 treats temporal anaphora within the outlined framework of the A-theory and develops a theory of so-called E-type temporal anaphora achieved by the introduction of implicit when-clauses. Ch. 9 provides psycholinguistic and linguistic evidence for favoring an A-theory conception of time and tense. In Ch. 10 L summarizes possible outcomes of the A-theory and proposes possible directions for future research.

The book has two philosophical appendixes, introducing two additional philosophical issues concerning the nature of I-language and the theory of language-world isomorphism. Five technical appendixes give basic quantificational and technical A- and B-theory fragments.

L argues that the A-theory should be adopted in future research on the nature of tense and time. This conclusion entails a number of far-reaching consequences for our understanding of logic, self-knowledge, and memory and for our analysis of grammatical tenses which, according to L, may have to be dispensed with. Unfortunately, all examples used in the text are from tense languages, and no references to tenseless languages are made. Such languages could have provided valid additional data in the context of the work.

The book has several assets. It is reader-friendly and supplied with detailed indexes, directing the reader to reference works on various issues under discussion. It is well-structured and uses formal semantic terminology and formulas sparingly, which makes it accessible even to those unacquainted with semantic theory.