Buridan on Future Contingents

Abstract

The Medieval philosopher John Buridan (14th century) develops a complex kind of semantics based on the distinction between the context of utterance and the context of evaluation in order to establish the truth conditions of propositions. This article intends to analyze this semantics and, in particular, to understand its consequences with regard to future contingent propositions. It states that the distinction between the context of utterance and the context of evaluation results in a satisfactory approach of the truth conditions of future contingent propositions. The approach is considered satisfactory because it avoids, on the one hand, the unpleasant consequences related to the denial of the Principle of Bivalence, and, on the other hand, the attachment to determinism.