19 Facts About Arthur Prior

Arthur Prior was born in Masterton, New Zealand, on 4 December 1914, the only child of Australian-born parents: Norman Henry Arthur Prior and his wife born Elizabeth Munton Rothesay Teague.

Arthur Prior's mother died less than three weeks after his birth and he was cared for by his father's sister.

In 1936, Arthur Prior married Clare Hunter, a freelance journalist, and they spent several years in Europe, during which they tried to earn a living as writers.

Arthur Prior served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force from 1943 to 1945 as a radio mechanic.

Arthur Prior's first position was a lectureship which had become available when Karl Popper left the university.

Arthur Prior continued his Manchester practice of accepting visiting professorships.

Arthur Prior went to give lectures at Norwegian universities in September 1969 and on 6 October 1969, the night before he was to deliver a lecture there, he died from a heart attack at Trondheim, Norway.

Arthur Prior began teaching philosophy and logic at Canterbury University College in February 1946, filling the vacancy created by Karl Popper's resignation.

Arthur Prior's students include Max Cresswell, Kit Fine, and Robert Bull.

Arthur Prior went so far as to read untranslated Polish texts without being able to speak Polish claiming "the symbols are so illuminating that the fact that the text is incomprehensible doesn't much matter".

Arthur Prior went on to employ Polish notation throughout his career.

Arthur Prior distills much of his early teaching of logic in New Zealand.

Arthur Prior stood out by virtue of his strong interest in the history of logic.

Arthur Prior was one of the first English-speaking logicians to appreciate the nature and scope of the logical work of Charles Sanders Peirce, and the distinction between de dicto and de re in modal logic.

Arthur Prior taught and researched modal logic before Kripke proposed his possible worlds semantics for it, at a time when modality and intensionality commanded little interest in the English speaking world, and had even come under sharp attack by Willard Van Orman Quine.

Arthur Prior is said to be the precursor of hybrid logic.

Arthur Prior's work was both philosophical and formal and provides a productive synergy between formal innovation and linguistic analysis.

Arthur Prior was scrupulous in setting out the views of his adversaries, and provided many constructive suggestions about the formal development of alternative views.

Arthur Prior possessed an intellectual purity and a devotion to the subject that I immediately recognized and have always attempted to emulate.