The philosophical studies of Yamaguchi University

Back to Top

The philosophical studies of Yamaguchi University Volume 19
published_at 2012-03-23

On the linguistic distinction between histories

歴史の言語的弁別について
fulltext
1.4 MB
C070019000003.pdf
Descriptions
We often represent the possibilities of history by a tree diagram. However, what a branch in the diagram means is not clear. In this paper, I do not regard each branch as an individual possible history but as a set of possible histories, which is distinct linguistically. This view rejects the common claim (like Bergson’s) that a tree diagram is not a suitable representation of possible histories because the future is not determined yet and cannot be represented as a spatial line. We cannot draw a complete tree diagram which contains individual possible histories, but that does not contradict the metaphysical fact that any possible history has the completeness of a world.