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    If sentences express tensed propositions with built-in te... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→The semantic content of a sentence must lack temporal qualification, meaning it can change in truth-value over time.

    If sentences express tensed propositions with built-in temporal orientation, 'in the past, Reagan was president' is true because the embedded proposition is itself past-directed, not because an atemporal content is checked at multiple times.

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Tensed propositions capture how language users naturally represent temporal facts as intrinsically past, present, or future-oriented.
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    • 2.This view avoids the awkwardness of checking atemporal contents against multiple time-slices; temporal meaning is constitutive, not relational.
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    • 3.Sentences like 'soon it will rain' seem to express a forward-directed content that cannot be reduced to truth at other times.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
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    • 1.Tensed propositions raise identity questions: what makes a proposition 'past-directed' rather than merely about the past? How do they individuate?
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    • 2.Eternalist physics suggests time has no objective flow or direction, making built-in temporal orientation metaphysically puzzling and empirically unmotivated.
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    • 3.We can explain tense truth-conditions using atemporal propositions plus temporal context; invoking tensed propositions multiplies entities without necessity.
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    Key Terms

    atemporal(as used in philosophy of time)
    Something that exists outside of time or has no connection to any particular moment in time; timeless.
    past-directed(as used in philosophy of time)
    Oriented toward or referring to events that have already happened in the past.
    proposition(Used in the context of a semantic theory sensitive to differences in subject matter.)
    The content expressed by a sentence, individuated at least in part by the subject matter of the sentence and the contents of its subsentential expressions.
    temporal orientation(as used in philosophy of time)
    The direction or placement of something in time—whether it's pointing toward the past, present, or future.
    tensed propositions(as used in philosophy of time and language)
    Statements about the world that include a specific time reference (past, present, or future), like 'it is raining now' rather than just 'it rains.'

    Connections

    2 topics

    Truth & Knowledge1 linkedPhilosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    Eternalist physics suggests time has no objective flow or direction, making buil...Sentences like 'soon it will rain' seem to express a forward-directed content th...Tensed propositions capture how language users naturally represent temporal fact...Tensed propositions raise identity questions: what makes a proposition 'past-dir...
    +3 moreShow less
    The semantic content of a sentence must lack temporal qualification, meaning it ...This view avoids the awkwardness of checking atemporal contents against multiple...

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    2 (1 for, 1 against)
    Edits
    1 edit
    We can explain tense truth-conditions using atemporal propositions plus temporal...