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For the first time Truth: A Contemporary Reader brings together the essays that have shaped two aspects of a fundamental philosophical topic: the nature of truth and the value of truth.
Featuring 28 essays from 1878 to 2011, this reader includes work by leading philosophers such as Hilary Putnam, Michael P. Lynch, Michael Dummet and Donald Davidson, as well as Bertrand Russell and Charles S. Peirce. Telling the story of how the development of the central 'grand proposals' about the nature of truth were gradually dethroned by the rise of Tarski's semantic conception of truth and other 20th and 21st-century theories, the reader also demonstrates how truth is often taken to be valuable in various ways, seen as the norm of correctness for belief and assertion, for example.
With introductory overviews to each group of related papers complemented by guides to further reading and a glossary, this reader introduces the central debates, familiarizes students with the most important work in the field and covers pivotal theories of truth including:
- Correspondence theories
- Coherentism, pragmatism, verificationism
- Deflationary theories
The connection between the nature and value of truth is intimate. By showing how thoughts about truth and value bear heavily on one another, A Reader in the Nature and Value of Truth provides new opportunities for understanding and advancing the link between these central topics. Including specially-commissioned essays identifying new research directions, this is an essential collection for anyone studying or working in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of language today.
