Language and Time

"No philosopher has done more in recent years to develop and defend the tensed theory of time: the view that past, present and future are real features of the universe."--D.H. Mellor "Language and Time is the most important work defending the tensed theory of time to appear since Richard Gale's 1968 book The Language of Time. Smith offers powerful arguments against the new theory of reference propounded by leading philosophers writing in the philosophy of language today. In the final chapter Smith argues that Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is not a theory about the nature of time, but about the observable behavior of light rays and the like. His general procedure is to argue that temporal properties in the Special Theory of Relativity are reducible to nontemporal properties and some primitive temporal properties of real (metaphysical) time, which is absolute. In this chapter, as throughout the book, his arguments are clearly stated, forceful, and thought provoking....Smith's book is tour de force that is required reading for those working in the philosophy of time."--L. Nathan Oaklander, University of Michigan at Flint "Quentin Smith has produced a masterpiece....Language and Time will be regarded as the classic statement of the new tensed theory of time."--The Philosophical Review "No philosopher has done more in recent years to develop and defend the tensed theory of time: the view that past, present and future are real features of the universe."--D.H. Mellor, University of Cambridge "Language and Time is the most important work defending the tensed theory of time to appear since Richard Gale's 1968 book The Language of Time. Smith offers powerful arguments against the new theory of reference propounded by leading philosophers writing in the philosophy of language today. In the final chapter Smith argues that Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity is not a theory about the nature of time, but about the observable behavior of light rays and the like. His general procedure is to argue that temporal properties in the Special Theory of Relativity are reducible to nontemporal properties and some primitive temporal properties of real (metaphysical) time, which is absolute. In this chapter, as throughout the book, his arguments are clearly stated, forceful, and thought provoking....Smith's book is tour de force that is required reading for those working in the philosophy of time."--L. Nathan Oaklander, University of Michigan at Flint "Quentin Smith has produced a masterpiece....Language and Time will be regarded as the classic statement of the new tensed theory of time."--The Philosophical Review