The paper has two parts preceded by quite comprehensive preliminaries.In the first part it is shown that a subvariety of the variety ${\cal T}$ of all tense algebras is discriminator if and only if it is semisimple. The variety ${\cal T}$ turns out to be the join of an increasing chain of varieties ${\cal D}_n$, which are discriminator varieties. The argument carries over to all finite type varieties of boolean algebras with operators satisfying some term conditions. In the case of (...) tense algebras, the varieties ${\cal D}_n$ can be further characterised by certain natural conditions on Kripke frames.In the second part it is shown that the lattice of subvarieties of ${\cal D}_0$ has two atoms, the lattice of subvarieties of ${\cal D}_1$ has countably many atoms, and for $n>1$, the lattice of subvarieties of ${\cal D}_n$ has continuum atoms. The proof of the second of the above statements involves a rather detailed description of zero-generated simple algebras in ${\cal D}_1$.Almost all the arguments are cast in algebraic form, but both parts begin with an outline describing their contents from the dual point of view of tense logics. (shrink)

The fact that many modal operators are part of an adjunction is probably folklore since the discovery of adjunctions. On the other hand, the natural idea of a minimal propositional calculus extended with a pair of adjoint operators seems to have been formulated only very recently. This recent research, mainly motivated by applications in computer science, concentrates on technical issues related to the calculi and not on the significance of adjunctions in modal logic. It then seems a worthy enterprise (both (...) for these contemporary topical pursuits and also for historical interest) to trace the concept of adjunction back to the origins of the algebraic semantics of modal logic and to make explicit its ubiquity in this branch of mathematics. (shrink)

The fact that many modal operators are part of an adjunction is probably folklore since the discovery of adjunctions. On the other hand, the natural idea of a minimal propositional calculus extended with a pair of adjoint operators seems to have been formulated only very recently. This recent research, mainly motivated by applications in computer science, concentrates on technical issues related to the calculi and not on the significance of adjunctions in modal logic. It then seems a worthy enterprise (both (...) for these contemporary topical pursuits and also for historical interest) to trace the concept of adjunction back to the origins of the algebraic semantics of modal logic and to make explicit its ubiquity in this branch of mathematics. (shrink)