The phrase "temporal logic" has been used in a broad sense to denote all approaches to the representation of temporal information within a logical framework, and also in a restricted sense to refer specifically to the modal-logic type of approach introduced around 1960 by Arthur Prior, who used the name Tense Logic.

Temporal logic literally means the logic of time, i.e., a logic that describes the flow of real events in time, which common propositional logic, etc., do not. For example, A & B is the same as B & A in standard sentential logic, but if A is the statement "X got married," and B is the statement "X had three children," then one conveys "X got married and had three children," while the other, "X had three children and got married," not quite the same thing necessarily. Temporal logic may thus be regarded as an enrichment...