The Past, Present and Future of the Prior Internet Resources

Abstract

In 2016, researchers from six different Danish universities gathered together to begin a research project called The Primacy of Tense - A. N. Prior Now and Then. The goals of the project were as diverse as its participants, ranging from themes in philosophy and logic to explorations in information science and history. This diversity was held together by a key idea: that it is important to study the links between Prior’s canonical published work and the extensive collection of unpublished material he left behind after his death. Thus a key practical goal of the project was to further explore and transcribe Prior’s Nachlass and make more of it available on the Prior Internet Resources (PIR). In this article we describe how the PIR came about, discuss how it has changed, and suggest several directions for its further development, so it can continue fostering research into Arthur Prior’s work in the future.