Statements about the Past

Abstract

We have now discussed at some length many of the problems which arise out of the phenomenalist analysis of statements about the material world. However, there is a special sub-class of statements about the material world, statements about the past, which present special problems, and we will deal with them in this chapter. The problem is basically that of analyzing tensed statements in ordinary language which refer specifically to the past, the present, or the future. It turns out that in order to construct an adequate analysis we will have to add slightly to the primitive language of our quasi-system. In particular, we will have to have constants, which will be viewed as proper names, and which will refer to particular sensations.