Praise for The Open Future
“This book provides a thorough, intriguing, and compelling account of how the future may be genuinely open. Todd’s fully articulated and skilfully defended position deserves serious consideration and successfully revitalizes the view that all future contingents are false. The book outlines a coherent and interdependent package in which a metaphysical account of the future as yet to be written motivates and underpins a thoroughly developed semantics of ‘will’ claims. Todd adeptly marshals arguments drawn from the metaphysics of time, linguistics, and philosophical logic in defence of an intriguing, yet controversial thesis. Unlike Todd, I take it to be true that the book will make a substantial and lasting contribution to the philosophy of time and will be debated and discussed for many years to come.”
Stephan Torre, Philosophical Quarterly
“novel and resourceful... a view of this kind merits serious consideration both from those concerned with the metaphysics of time and those interested in the semantics and pragmatics of our discourse about it.”
Mitchell Green, NDPR
“The book is an excellent defence of a neglected view, which Todd has shown must be taken more seriously. It is superbly written, with interesting and compelling arguments carried by crystal-clear prose, and reflects a mastery of the literature on the metaphysics and semantics of the open future. It is a must-read for anyone working on these topics.”
David Ingram, Metaphilosophy
“The Open Future is wonderful book, filled with interesting arguments and important
contributions to metaphysics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of religion.”
Ryan Wasserman, Analytic Philosophy
“The open future strikes me as an area of philosophy currently undergoing a bit of a renaissance. And Todd has done more than offer a simple contribution to that debate—his book both stands as required reading for anyone working on future contingents whilst simultaneously ensuring his theory is a prime contender as to which open future theory is best. The Open Future is an excellent philosophical work and I recommend it to everyone interested, not just in the open future, but also in the nature of omniscience, counterfactual and fictional truth, and the philosophy of language more broadly.”
Nikk Effingham, Faith and Philosophy
“A painfully short review such as this, cannot do justice to the variety and subtlety of all of the auxiliary arguments that Todd uses to make his case. And it certainly does not capture the sense of humor sprinkled throughout the book. Suffice it to say that Todd’s ideas may occasionally sound like a dissonant counterpoint in a chorus of philosophical voices adjusting themselves to some common ways of speaking about the future, but after reading his arguments, readers may find (as I have) that the rest of the choir seems to be singing off key.”
Don Viney, Process Studies
“Todd has made an excellent job in writing this book. I strongly suggest it to anyone interested in all the semantic and metaphysical issues typically connected to future contingents, as well as in temporal logic, philosophy of religion and counterfactual theories.”
Alessio Santelli, European Journal of Analytic Philosophy
“For the richness of the addressed themes, for the novelty with which several problems are faced, and for the search for original solutions, the reading of this book is absolutely recommended to all interested in the semantics and metaphysics of the open future. Another virtue of the book is its clarity: The argumentation is plain and never abstruse, and this makes the reading very pleasant.”
Aldo Frigerio, Manuscrito
“Todd’s book is a highly recommended read to all those working in metaphysics of time, tense logic, and debates about philosophy of religion. It is remarkable how the book offers a complete, original, and ingenious defense of the doctrine that future contingents are all false. Overall, The Open Future: Why Future Contingents are all False, does a remarkable job in bringing together arguments from metaphysics, logic, linguistics, and philosophy of religion. The resulting picture is sharp and cohesive. This, once again, confirms Todd's notable contribution to the debate on future contingents.”
Giacomo Andreoletti, Ratio