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315Lorhard, Ramus, and Timpler and “The birth of ontology”.Journal of Knowledge Structures and Systems 3 (2): 48-56. 2022.This review article offers a discussion of some aspects of the historical and conceptual context when the term “ontology” (Lat. ontologia) was first introduced in the scholarly circles of the early 17th century. In particular, Barry Smith's (2022) analysis of the birth of ontology provides a springboard for some further remarks on the author of the work with the first known occurrence of the word “ontologia”, Jacob Lorhard, including an analysis of his relationship with earlier philosophers Petr…Read more
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161Logic has sometimes been seen as an alternative to metaphysics and to speculation. In this paper it is argued that a different story should be told when it comes to temporal logic and tense-logic in particular. A. N. Prior’s first formulation of tense logic was mainly established in order to qualify the discussion of certain metaphysical and conceptual problems. Although temporal logic has now been developed in various abstract and rather technical ways, it may still serve as a great help for an…Read more
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86Issues in robot ethics seen through the lens of a moral Turing testJournal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 13 (2): 98-109. 2015.Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore artificial moral agency by reflecting upon the possibility of a Moral Turing Test and whether its lack of focus on interiority, i.e. its behaviouristic foundation, counts as an obstacle to establishing such a test to judge the performance of an Artificial Moral Agent. Subsequently, to investigate whether an MTT could serve as a useful framework for the understanding, designing and engineering of AMAs, we set out to address fundamental challenges …Read more
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86Branching time, indeterminism and tense logic: Unveiling the Prior–Kripke lettersSynthese 188 (3): 367-379. 2012.This paper deals with the historical and philosophical background of the introduction of the notion of branching time in philosophical logic as it is revealed in the hitherto unpublished mail-correspondence between Saul Kripke and A.N. Prior in the late 1950s. The paper reveals that the idea was first suggested by Saul Kripke in a letter to A.N. Prior, dated September 3, 1958, and it is shown how the elaboration of the idea in the course of the correspondence was intimately intervowen with consi…Read more
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76Ethical problems inherent in psychological research based on internet communication as stored informationTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 28 (3): 221-241. 2007.This paper deals with certain ethical problems inherent in psychological research based on internet communication as stored information. Section 1 contains an analysis of research on Internet debates. In particular, it takes into account a famous example of deception for psychology research purposes. In section 2, the focus is on research on personal data in texts published on the Internet. Section 3 includes an attempt to formulate some ethical principles and guidelines, which should be regarde…Read more
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75Darwin’s Perplexing Paradox: Intelligent Design in NaturePerspectives in Biology and Medicine 56 (1): 78-98. 2013.Much has been written through the years of the clash between Darwinism and natural theology, and the basic tenants of this debate are well understood (Gillispie 1959; Bowler 1977; Ruse 2003; McGrath 2011). However, the literature is still growing, and one may wonder if anything new may yet be added. Of these new literary sources, one of the richest is the online Darwin Correspondence Project, which makes it possible to search and read the full texts of all correspondence either sent or received …Read more
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53Nissim-Sabat On The The One-Way Velocity Of LightBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science 37 (1): 120-122. 1986.
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52A critical discussion of Prior’s philosophical and tense-logical analysis of the ideas of indeterminism and human freedomSynthese 196 (1): 69-85. 2019.This paper is a critical discussion of A.N. Prior’s contribution to the modern understanding of indeterminism and human freedom of choice. Prior suggested that these ideas should be conceived in terms of his tense logic. It can be demonstrated that his approach provides an attractive formalization that makes it possible to discuss indeterminism and human freedom of choice in a very precise manner and in a broader metaphysical context. It is also argued that Prior’s development of this approach w…Read more
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48Prior’s defence of Hintikka’s theorem. A discussion of Prior’s ‘The logic of obligation and the obligations of the logician’Synthese 188 (3): 449-454. 2012.In his paper, The logic of obligation and the obligations of the logician, A.N. Prior considers Hintikka's theorem, according to which a statement cannot be both impossible and permissible. This theorem has been seen as problematic for the very idea of a logic of obligation. However, Prior rejects the view that the logic of obligation cannot be formalised. He sees this resistance against such a view as an important part of what could be called the obligation of the logician. Prior argues that Hi…Read more
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43The Prior-von Wright Debate on Anselm's Argument for the Existence of GodIn Ilkka Niiniluoto & Thomas Wallgren (eds.), On the Human Condition : Philosophical Essays in Honour of the Centennial Anniversary of Georg Henrik von Wright, . pp. 255-267. 2017.Arthur Norman Prior (1914 – 1969) and Georg Henrik von Wright (1916 – 2003) both attended a conference in England sometime in the spring of 1956, after which they corresponded on Anselm’s ontological argument. Prior had at the conference presented a formal treatment of the ontological argument. Based upon notes from the Prior archive at the Bodleian Library, and correspondence with von Wright, we here presents Prior’s and von Wrights’ discussion of Anselm’s argument in light of Prior’s published…Read more
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42Time and knowledge: Some reflections on Prior’s analysis of the paradox of the prisonerSynthese 188 (3): 417-422. 2012.
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35Prior’s paradigm for the study of time and its methodological motivationSynthese 193 (11): 3401-3416. 2016.A. N. Prior’s writings should obviously be studied already for historical reasons. His inventions of modern temporal logic and hybrid logic are clearly important events in the history of logic. But the enduring importance of studying his works also rests on his methodological approach, which remains highly relevant also for systematical reasons. In this paper we argue that Prior’s formulation in the 1950s of a tense-logical paradigm for the study of time should be understood in the light of at l…Read more
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34From a logical angle: Some studies in A.N. Prior’s ideas on time, discourse and metaphysicsSynthese 188 (3): 325-330. 2012.
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33Geochronology as a metaphysical research programmeZeitschrift Für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 18 (1-2): 204-214. 1987.In diesem Artikel wird der wissenschaftstheoretische Stand der Geochronologie mit Hintergrund in den Arbeiten von Kuhn und besonders Popper diskutiert. Die Geochronologie wird untersucht mit Hinblick auf generelle methodologische Voraussetzungen, Terminologie, normal-wissenschaftliche Aktivitätsform und "theoretische Dogmatik". Als Konklusion ergibt sich, daß die fundamentalen Theoriekonstruktionen der Geochronologie nicht testbar sind, sondern als ein metaphysisches Forschungsprogramm im Sinne …Read more
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31Conventionality in distant simultaneityFoundations of Physics 10 (3-4): 333-343. 1980.The paper defends the thesis of conventionality in distant simultaneity within the special theory of relativity. The thesis can be expressed in the following way: There is no method independent of standard synchronization by which the one-way velocity of light can be measured if all empirical consequences of the special theory of relativity are to be accepted. Three methods which have recently been suggested are investigated. It is shown that they all depend on the method of standard synchroniza…Read more
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29Logic has sometimes been seen as an alternative to metaphysics and to speculation. In this paper it is argued that a different story should be told when it comes to temporal logic and tense-logic in particular. A.N. Prior’s first formulation of tense logic was mainly established in order to qualify the discussion of certain metaphysical and conceptual problems. Although temporal logic has now been developed in various abstract and rather technical ways, it may still serve as a great help for any…Read more
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29Prior's Grappling with Peirce's Existential GraphsHistory and Philosophy of Logic 39 (2): 158-163. 2018.A. N. Prior very much admired the logic and philosophy of C.S. Peirce. In the spring of 1962 Prior went to Chicago to study Peirce's ideas. One of the topics that caught his attention was Peirce's existential graphs. This interest continued when he returned to England. In this paper Prior's grappling with the existential graphs will be discussed.
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24William of Ockham on Future ContingencyKronoScope 18 (2): 138-153. 2018.In his philosophy, William of Ockham (1285-1347) offered an important and detailed response to the classical argument from the truth of a statement regarding the future to the necessity (unpreventability) of the statement. In this paper, Ockham’s solution and the possible formalisation of it are discussed in terms of modern tense and modal logic. In particular, the famous branching time formalisation suggested by A.N. Prior (1914-19) is discussed. Weaknesses and problems with this suggestion are…Read more
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21Temporal Logic: From Ancient Ideas to Artificial IntelligenceKluwer Academic Publishers. 1995.Temporal Logic: From Ancient Ideas to Artificial Intelligence deals with the history of temporal logic as well as the crucial systematic questions within the field. The book studies the rich contributions from ancient and medieval philosophy up to the downfall of temporal logic in the Renaissance. The modern rediscovery of the subject, which is especially due to the work of A. N. Prior, is described, leading into a thorough discussion of the use of temporal logic in computer science and the unde…Read more
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15Prior’s big Y and the Idea of Branching TimeHistory and Philosophy of Logic 1-4. 2022.In his famous letter to A. N. Prior dated 3 September 1958, Saul Kripke suggested the use of branching time in temporal logic. In this paper, however, it is argued that Prior worked with an idea close to the notion of branching time (‘the big Y’) already the year before he received Kripke’s letter. It is likely that Prior’s findings based on this early study can explain why Prior so quickly accepted the idea of branching time when he received Kripke’s letter.
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14The role of credibility in the design of mobile solutions to enhance the social skill‐set of teenagers diagnosed with autismJournal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society 9 (4): 253-264. 2011.PurposeHelping Autism‐diagnosed teenagers navigate and develop socially is an EU research project in progress. The aim of HANDS is to investigate the potential of persuasive technology as a tool to help young people diagnosed, to whatever degree, as autistic. The HANDS project set out to develop mobile ICT solutions to help young people with autism become more fully integrated into society and the purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the design behind the HANDS toolset.Design/metho…Read more
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Aalborg UniversityProfessor
Aalborg University
PhD, 1980
Sønder Tranders, Region North Jutland, Denmark
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |