The logic of time. A model-theoretic investigation into the varieties of temporal ontology and temporal discourse. (Q1188997)

The subject of Time has a wide intellectual appeal across different disciplines. This has shown in the variety of reactions received from readers of the first edition of the present Book (1983; Zbl 0508.03008). Many have reacted to issues raised in its philosophical discussions, while some have even solved a number of the open technical questions raised in the logical elaboration of the latter. These results wil be recorded below, at a more convenient place. In the seven years after the first publication, there have been some noticeable newer developments in the logical study of Time and temporal expressions. As far as Temporal Logic proper is concerned, it seems fair to say that these amount to an increase in coverage and sophistication, rather than further break-through innovation. In fact, perhaps the most significant sources of new activity have been the applied areas of Linguistics and Computer Science (including Artificial Intelligence), where many intriguing new ideas have appeared presenting further challenges to temporal logic. Now, since this Book has a rather tight composition, it would have been difficult to interpolate this new material without endangering intelligibility.... An additional reason for reticence is the sheer bulk of the material accumulated along the above-mentioned lines of research. Therefore, the course of action adopted here has been merely to add an Appendix surveying some main features of the intermediate period. As for the main text, only a few errors and misprints have been removed, most of them pointed out by Piet Rodenburg.