Time, tenses and modalities: Diodorus' Κυριεύων, Prior's Master Argument and his heritage

The present dissertation, combining historical and theoretical methodologies, spans several centuries of logical thought with its double focus on Diodorus Cronus and Arthur Prior. As to the former author, the Megaric fragments are duly examined; concerning the latter, we could benefit from a first-hand participation in the Virtual Lab for Prior Studies. We start from Diodorus’ kyrieuon logos and some ancient doctrines, and then we examine Prior’s analysis and formalisation of the Master Argument, his Diodorean system and the birth of temporal logics. One goal of the thesis is to enhance Prior’s heritage through an analysis of unpublished manuscripts from the Prior Collection.