Theories of Truth : A Critical Introduction

by Richard L. Kirkham

• ISBN13: 9780262611084
• ISBN10: 0262611082
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-03-02
• Publisher: Bradford Books

Summary

Theories of Truthtackles one of the most difficult areas in philosophy. It surveys all of the major theories of truth, presenting the crux of the issues involved at a level accessible to nonexperts yet in a manner sufficiently detailed and original to be of value to professional scholars. Included are discussions of such theories as the correspondence, coherence, pragmatic, semantic, performative, redundancy, appraisal, and truth-as-justification theories. Also covered are the liar paardox, three-valued logic, Field's critique of Tarski, satisfaction, and recursion, as well as how the theories of justification, properly understood, differ from theories of truth. A Bradford Book

Table of Contents

Preface

Projects of Theories of Truth

Four-Dimensional Confusion

How to Resolve This Confusion

Extensionality

Intensionality

Natural Necessity

Philosophical Analysis

The Main Projects and Their Subdivisions

Putting the Clues Together

Projects and Programs

Chapter Summary

Justification and Truth Bearers

The Epistemological Enterprise

Truth, Justification, and Warranted Assertibility

Confusion about Truth Bearers

A Tolerant Attitude about Truth Bearers

Sentence Tokens

Truth versus Truth-in-L

An Objection to the Concept of a Truth Bearer

Chapter Summary

Nonrealist Theories

Realist and Nonrealist Theories of Truth

Charles S. Peirce's Pragmaticism

William James's Instrumentalism

Truth and Value

Brand Blanshard's Coherence Theory

Skepticism and Nonrealist Theories

A Regress Problem for All Nonrealist Theories

Local Nonrealism

Chapter Summary

The Correspondence Theory

Two Kinds of Correspondence

Bertrand Russell's Theory of Correspondence as Congruence

J. L. Austin's Theory of Correspondence as Correlation

Some Technical Problems

The Essence of the Correspondence Theory

Nonrealist Correspondence Theories

Objections to the Correspondence Theory

Chapter Summary

Alfred Tarski's Semantic Theory

Tarski's Goals

Tarski's Theory

Recursion

Satisfaction

Names and Natural Languages

Programs and Special Adequacy Conditions

The Essence of Tarski's Notion of Truth

Is the Semantic Theory a Correspondence Theory?

Chapter Summary

Objections to Tarski's Theory

Objections to Tarski's Material Adequacy Condition

The Semantic Theory and the Justification Project

The Relativity Objection

The Vacuity Objection

Is Tarski Ontologically Neutral?

Hartry Field and the Physicalist Program

Neurath, Carnap, and the Origins of Modern Physicalism

Objections to Physicalism

Chapter Summary

The Justification Project

The Relation of Theories of Justification to Theories of Truth

Foundationalism

Instrumentalism as a Theory of Justification

F. H. Bradley's Coherence Theory of Justification

Chapter Summary

Davidson and Dummett

Davidson's Program

Complications and Cautions

Some Objections to the Davidson Program

Dummett's Theory of Meaning

Dummett's Argument against Construing Meaning as Truth Conditions

A Critique of Dummett's Argument

Truth-as-Justification and Skepticism Again

Chapter Summary

The Liar Paradox

Damnable Lies

Russell's Theory of Types

The Object-Language/Metalanguage Distinction

Criticisms of the Language-Levels Approach

Saul Kripke's Theory of Truth-Value Gaps

A. N. Prior's Solution

Truth-Value Gluts

Situational Semantics and the Liar Paradox

Chapter Summary

The Speech-Act Project and the Deflationary Thesis

Strawson, Price, and the Illocutionary-Act Project

The Assertion Project

The Theory of Truth-as-Appraisal

F. P. Ramsey's Redundancy Theory

C. J. F. Williams's Redundancy Theory

The Prosentential Theory of Truth

The Deflationary Thesis

Paul Horwich's Minimalist Answer to the Metaphysical Project

Chapter Summary

Notes

References

Index

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