Author: Arthur Pap, with a new foreword by Brand Blanshard
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication Date: Originally 1958; this edition second printing, January 1966
Format: Softcover, 482 pages
Condition: Good. Binding sound. Some wear and creasing to covers, edge scuffs, and age toning consistent with a mid-century paperback. Interior pages clean and unmarked.
 
Description:
Arthur Pap’s Semantics and Necessary Truth is a landmark work in 20th-century analytic philosophy, widely regarded as one of the most thorough treatments of its subject in the English language. Pap explores the critical distinctions between a priori and empirical knowledge, necessary and contingent truths, and analytic versus synthetic propositions. His analysis engages directly with traditional theories of knowledge while connecting them to the challenges of modern analytic philosophy.
With critical chapters on Leibniz, Kant, Locke, and Hume, this book bridges classical philosophy with mid-century developments in semantics and logic. Pap’s study remains essential for anyone interested in epistemology, philosophy of language, or the foundations of analytic philosophy.
The foreword by Brand Blanshard underscores Pap’s importance, remarking that had Pap lived longer, he would have been recognized as one of the foremost philosophers of his time.