Temporal propositions as vague predicates

Abstract

The notion that temporal propositions are vague predicates is examined with an eye to the nature of the objects over which the predicates range. These objects should not, it is argued, be identified once and for all with points or intervals in the real line (or any fixed linear order). Context has an important role to play not only in sidestepping the Sorites paradox (Gaifman 2002) but also in shaping temporal moments/extent (Landman 1991). The Russell-Wiener construction of time from events (Kamp 1979) is related to a notion of context given by a string of observations, the vagueness in which is brought out by grounding the observations in the real line. Moreover, that notion of context suggests a slight modification of the context dependency functions in Gaifman 2002 to interpret temporal propositions.