Individuals and times in the problems of contemporary philosophy of language

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the latest research in the field of the semantics of tense and specifically the ways of representing the temporal dimension of meaning in natural lan­guage. The paper also outlines the content of classical studies, the problems of which are discussed in the more recent literature. It is shown that with the development of research in the field of semantics of temporal morphemes and quantifier expressions, the relationship between language and time began to acquire more and more parallels with the relationship between language and individual objects. This statement is illustrated with a number of ex­amples. In particular, the difference between the quantificational and the pronominal inter­pretation of temporal morphemes. Parallels in the semantics of temporal morphemes and referential expressions are also revealed in propositional attitude reports, where similar problems arise (both in connection with de se and de re reports). Thus, it is shown that, like the morphology of personal pronouns, the temporal morphology can be interpreted or unin­terpreted in similar circumstances. It is also shown that the semantics of temporal mor­phemes is in some cases even more sensitive to linguistic aspects and the context of use than that of personal pronouns. This is illustrated with the existing restrictions on the temporal in­terpretation of attitude reports that have no analogues in the sphere of pointing to individual objects. The problems of connection of the temporal interpretation of linguistic expressions with the semantics of the verb form, modal verbs and negation are also addressed. It is shown how exactly these aspects of the semantics of tense significantly enrich the philo­sophical understanding of the triad “language – reality – subject”.