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Smith On Times And Tokens

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Abstract

In this essay I respond to Quentin Smith's chargethat `the date-analysis version ofthe tenseless theory of time cannot give adequateaccounts of the truth conditions ofthe statements made by tensed sentence-tokens'(Smith 1999, 236). His argument isbased on an analysis of certain counterfactualsituations that is at odds with thedate-analysis account of language and hence succeedsonly in begging the questionagainst that theory. To anticipate: his argumentfails if one allows that temporalindexicals such as `now' rigidly designate theirtime of utterance, something thedate-analyst can happily admit whether she adheresto an absolute or relationalmetaphysics of time.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A1

    Joshua M. Mozersky

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  1. Joshua M. Mozersky
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Mozersky, J.M. Smith On Times And Tokens. Synthese 129, 405–411 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013135211562

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