Arthur Prior
Encyclopedia
Arthur Norman Prior was a noted logic
ian and philosopher. Prior (1957) founded tense logic, now also known as temporal logic
, and made important contributions to intensional logic
, particularly in Prior (1971).
. Despite knowing only modest mathematics, he began teaching philosophy and logic at Canterbury University College in 1946, filling the vacancy created by Karl Popper
's resignation. He became Professor in 1953. Thanks to the good offices of Gilbert Ryle
, who had met Prior in New Zealand in 1954, Prior spent the year 1956 on leave at the University of Oxford
, where he gave the John Locke
lectures
in philosophy. These were subsequently published as "Time and Modality" (1957). This is a seminal contribution to the study of tense logic and the metaphysics of time, in which Prior championed the A-theorist view that the temporal modalities past, present and future are basic ontological categories of fundamental importance for our understanding of time and the world. During his time at Oxford, Prior met Peter Geach
and William Kneale, influenced John Lemmon
, and corresponded with the adolescent Saul Kripke
. Logic in the United Kingdom was then in a rather low state, and Prior's enthusiasm is believed to have contributed materially to its revival. From 1959 to 1966, he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester
, having taught Osmund Lewry
. From 1966 until his death he was Fellow and Tutor in philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford
. His students include Max Cresswell, Kit Fine
, and Robert Bull.
Almost entirely self-taught in modern formal logic, Prior published his first paper on logic in 1952, when he was already 38 years of age, shortly after discovering the work of Józef Maria Bocheński
and Jan Łukasiewicz, very little of whose work was then translated into English. He went on to employ Polish notation
throughout his career. Prior (1955) distills much of his early teaching of logic in New Zealand. Prior's work on tense logic provides a systematic and extended defence of a tensed conception of reality in which material objects are construed as three-dimensional continuants which are wholly present at each moment of their existence.
Prior stood out by virtue of his strong interest in the history of logic. He was one of the first English-speaking logicians to appreciate the nature and scope of the logical work of Charles Sanders Peirce, and the distinction between de dicto and de re in modal logic
. Prior taught and researched modal logic
before Kripke proposed his possible worlds semantics
for it, at a time when modality and intentionality commanded little interested in the English speaking world, and had even come under sharp attack by Willard Quine.
He is now said to be the precursor of hybrid logic
. Undertaking (in one section of his book "Past, Present, and Future" (1967)) the attempt to combine binary (e.g. "until") and unary (e.g. "will always be") temporal operators to one system of temporal logic, Prior - as an incidental result - builds a base for later hybrid languages.
His work Time and Modality explored the use of a many-valued logic to explain the problem of non-referring names.
Prior's work was both philosophical and formal and provides a productive synergy between formal innovation and linguistic analysis. Natural language, he remarked, can embody folly and confusion as well as the wisdom of our ancestors. He was scrupulous in setting out the views of his adversaries, and provided many constructive suggestions about the formal development of alternative views.
Logic
In philosophy, Logic is the formal systematic study of the principles of valid inference and correct reasoning. Logic is used in most intellectual activities, but is studied primarily in the disciplines of philosophy, mathematics, semantics, and computer science...
ian and philosopher. Prior (1957) founded tense logic, now also known as temporal logic
Temporal logic
In logic, the term temporal logic is used to describe any system of rules and symbolism for representing, and reasoning about, propositions qualified in terms of time. In a temporal logic we can then express statements like "I am always hungry", "I will eventually be hungry", or "I will be hungry...
, and made important contributions to intensional logic
Intensional logic
Intensional logic is an approach to predicate logic that extends first-order logic, which has quantifiers that range over the individuals of a universe , by additional quantifiers that range over terms that may have such individuals as their value...
, particularly in Prior (1971).
Biography
Prior was entirely educated in New Zealand, where he was fortunate to have come under the influence of John Niemeyer FindlayJohn Niemeyer Findlay
John Niemeyer Findlay, known as J. N. Findlay, was a South African philosopher.-Education and Career:...
. Despite knowing only modest mathematics, he began teaching philosophy and logic at Canterbury University College in 1946, filling the vacancy created by Karl Popper
Karl Popper
Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH FRS FBA was an Austro-British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics...
's resignation. He became Professor in 1953. Thanks to the good offices of Gilbert Ryle
Gilbert Ryle
Gilbert Ryle , was a British philosopher, a representative of the generation of British ordinary language philosophers that shared Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical problems, and is principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "the ghost in the...
, who had met Prior in New Zealand in 1954, Prior spent the year 1956 on leave at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, where he gave the John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
lectures
John Locke lectures
The John Locke Lectures are a series of annual lectures in philosophy given at the University of Oxford. They are one of the world's most prestigious academic lecture series, comparable to the Gifford Lectures given in Scottish universities...
in philosophy. These were subsequently published as "Time and Modality" (1957). This is a seminal contribution to the study of tense logic and the metaphysics of time, in which Prior championed the A-theorist view that the temporal modalities past, present and future are basic ontological categories of fundamental importance for our understanding of time and the world. During his time at Oxford, Prior met Peter Geach
Peter Geach
Peter Thomas Geach is a British philosopher. His areas of interest are the history of philosophy, philosophical logic, and the theory of identity.He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford...
and William Kneale, influenced John Lemmon
John Lemmon
Edward John Lemmon was a logician and philosopher born in Sheffield, UK. He is most well known for his work on modal logic, particularly his joint text with Dana Scott published posthumously ....
, and corresponded with the adolescent Saul Kripke
Saul Kripke
Saul Aaron Kripke is an American philosopher and logician. He is a professor emeritus at Princeton and teaches as a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center...
. Logic in the United Kingdom was then in a rather low state, and Prior's enthusiasm is believed to have contributed materially to its revival. From 1959 to 1966, he was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
, having taught Osmund Lewry
Osmund Lewry
Patrick Osmund Lewry was a Dominican who made significant contributions to the history of logic and the philosophy of language in the thirteenth century. Lewry studied mathematical logic under Lejewski and A.N. Prior at Manchester . From 1962–7 he taught the philosophy of language and logic at...
. From 1966 until his death he was Fellow and Tutor in philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
. His students include Max Cresswell, Kit Fine
Kit Fine
Kit Fine is Silver Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at New York University. He previously taught for several years at UCLA...
, and Robert Bull.
Almost entirely self-taught in modern formal logic, Prior published his first paper on logic in 1952, when he was already 38 years of age, shortly after discovering the work of Józef Maria Bocheński
Józef Maria Bochenski
Józef Maria Bocheński was a Polish Dominican, logician and philosopher.-Life:...
and Jan Łukasiewicz, very little of whose work was then translated into English. He went on to employ Polish notation
Polish notation
Polish notation, also known as prefix notation, is a form of notation for logic, arithmetic, and algebra. Its distinguishing feature is that it places operators to the left of their operands. If the arity of the operators is fixed, the result is a syntax lacking parentheses or other brackets that...
throughout his career. Prior (1955) distills much of his early teaching of logic in New Zealand. Prior's work on tense logic provides a systematic and extended defence of a tensed conception of reality in which material objects are construed as three-dimensional continuants which are wholly present at each moment of their existence.
Prior stood out by virtue of his strong interest in the history of logic. He was one of the first English-speaking logicians to appreciate the nature and scope of the logical work of Charles Sanders Peirce, and the distinction between de dicto and de re in modal logic
Modal logic
Modal logic is a type of formal logic that extends classical propositional and predicate logic to include operators expressing modality. Modals — words that express modalities — qualify a statement. For example, the statement "John is happy" might be qualified by saying that John is...
. Prior taught and researched modal logic
Modal logic
Modal logic is a type of formal logic that extends classical propositional and predicate logic to include operators expressing modality. Modals — words that express modalities — qualify a statement. For example, the statement "John is happy" might be qualified by saying that John is...
before Kripke proposed his possible worlds semantics
Kripke semantics
Kripke semantics is a formal semantics for non-classical logic systems created in the late 1950s and early 1960s by Saul Kripke. It was first made for modal logics, and later adapted to intuitionistic logic and other non-classical systems...
for it, at a time when modality and intentionality commanded little interested in the English speaking world, and had even come under sharp attack by Willard Quine.
He is now said to be the precursor of hybrid logic
Hybrid logic
Hybrid logic refers to a number of extensions to propositional modal logic with more expressive power, though still less than first-order logic. In formal logic, there is a trade-off between expressiveness and computational tractability . The history of hybrid logic began with Arthur Prior's work...
. Undertaking (in one section of his book "Past, Present, and Future" (1967)) the attempt to combine binary (e.g. "until") and unary (e.g. "will always be") temporal operators to one system of temporal logic, Prior - as an incidental result - builds a base for later hybrid languages.
His work Time and Modality explored the use of a many-valued logic to explain the problem of non-referring names.
Prior's work was both philosophical and formal and provides a productive synergy between formal innovation and linguistic analysis. Natural language, he remarked, can embody folly and confusion as well as the wisdom of our ancestors. He was scrupulous in setting out the views of his adversaries, and provided many constructive suggestions about the formal development of alternative views.
Publications
The following books were either written by Prior, or are posthumous collections of journal articles and unpublished papers he wrote.- 1949. Logic and the Basis of Ethics. Oxford University Press (ISBN 0-19-824157-7)
- 1955, 1962. Formal Logic. Oxford University Press.
- 1957. Time and Modality. Oxford University Press. based on his 1956 John Locke lecturesJohn Locke lecturesThe John Locke Lectures are a series of annual lectures in philosophy given at the University of Oxford. They are one of the world's most prestigious academic lecture series, comparable to the Gifford Lectures given in Scottish universities...
. - 1967. Past, Present and Future. Oxford University Press.
- 1968. Papers on Time and Tense. Oxford University Press.
- 1971. Objects of Thought. Edited by P. T. Geach and A. J. P. Kenny. Oxford University Press.
- 1976. The Doctrine of Propositions and Terms. Edited by P. T. Geach and A. J. P. Kenny. London: Duckworth.
- 1976. Papers in Logic and Ethics. Edited by P. T. Geach and A. J. P. Kenny. London: Duckworth.
- 1977. Worlds, Times and Selves. Edited by Kit Fine. London: Duckworth.
- 2003. Papers on Time and Tense. New Edition by Per Hasle, Peter Øhrstrøm, Torben Braüner & Jack Copeland. Oxford University Press.
External links
- Arthur Prior, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Foundations of Temporal Logic
- On Prior's Tense Logic