The Nature of Truth - Classic and Contemporary Perspectives

821 Pages·2001·2.56 MB·English

by  Michael P. Lynch

a T The Nature of Truth
k
uf
S
e h
c
Ali
y
b e
o Classic and Contemporary Perspectives
ot
h
P
N
a
t
u
r
The Nature of Truth
e
Classic and Contemporary Perspectives
edited by Michael P. Lynch
o
“What is truth?” has long been the philosophical question par excellence. The
f
Nature of Truthcollects in one volume the twentieth century’s most influential
philosophical work on the subject. The coverage strikes a balance between classic T
works and the leading edge of current philosophical research.
r
u
The essays center around two questions: Does truth have an underlying nature?
And if so, what sort of nature does it have? The book discusses both traditional
t
and deflationary theories of truth, as well as phenomenological, postmodern, and
h
pluralist approaches to the problem. The essays are organized by theory. Each of
the seven sections opens with a detailed introduction that not only discusses the
essays in that section but relates them to other relevant essays in the book. Eleven
of the essays are previously unpublished or substantially revised. The book also
includes lists of suggestions for further reading.
Michael P. Lynch is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Connecticut College. He is
the author of Truth in Context (MIT Press, 1998).
Praise for Truth in Context
“A must read for anyone interested in 20th-century philosophy.”
Lynch
H. C. Byerly, CHOICE
Cover art: Consciousness, by Rene Lynch, 1999
The MIT Press LYNUP 0-262-62145-2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology ,!7IA2G2-gcbefi!:t;K;k;K;k
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
Michael P. Lynch
edited by
http://mitpress.mit.edu
The Nature of Truth

The Nature of Truth
Classic and Contemporary Perspectives
edited by
Michael P. Lynch
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London,England
(2001byMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyany
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, and infor-
mationstorageandretrieval)withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
Chapter24,‘‘ADefenseofMinimalism,’’(2001byPaulHorwich.
ThisbookwassetinSabonon‘3B2’byAscoTypesetters,HongKong,andwas
printedandboundintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
Firstprinting,2001
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Thenatureoftruth:classicandcontemporaryperspectives/editedby
MichaelP.Lynch.
p. cm.
‘‘ABradfordBook.’’
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-262-12239-1(alk.paper)—ISBN0-262-62145-2(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Truth. I.Lynch,MichaelP.(MichaelPatrick),1966–
BD171 .N35 2001
121—dc21 00-048035
For my parents

Contents
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: The Mystery of Truth 1
I Realism and the CorrespondenceTheory 7
1 Truth and Falsehood 17
Bertrand Russell
2 Truth 25
J.L. Austin
3 ARealistConceptionof Truth 41
William P. Alston
4 Contextual Semantics and Metaphysical Realism: Truth asIndirect
Correspondence 67
Terence Horgan
II Coherence Theories 97
5 Coherence asthe Nature ofTruth 103
Brand Blanshard
6 The Coherence Theory 123
Ralph C. S.Walker
7 The Casefor Coherence 159
Linda Martı´n Alcoff
III Pragmatism and Verificationism 183
8 How to Make Our Ideas Clear 193
Charles Sanders Peirce
viii Contents
9 Pragmatism’s Conception ofTruth 211
William James
10 Truth 229
Michael Dummett
11 Two PhilosophicalPerspectives 251
Hilary Putnam
12 Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry? Donald Davidson versus Crispin
Wright 259
RichardRorty
IV Phenomenologicaland Postmodernist Conceptions 287
13 On the Essence ofTruth 295
Martin Heidegger
14 Truth and Power 317
Michel Foucault
V Tarski’s Theory and Its Importance 321
15 The SemanticConception of Truth and the Foundations of
Semantics 331
Alfred Tarski
16 Tarski’s Theory of Truth 365
HartryField
17 What Isa Theory of Truth? 397
Scott Soames
VI Deflationary Views and TheirCritics 419
18 The Nature of Truth 433
Frank Plumpton Ramsey
19 Truth 447
P. F.Strawson
20 Truth 473
W. V. O. Quine
21 CorrespondenceTruth,Disquotational Truth, and
Deflationism 483
HartryField
Contents ix
22 The Prosentential Theory: Further Reflections on Locating Our
Interest in Truth 505
DorothyGrover
23 ACritique ofDeflationism 527
AnilGupta
24 ADefenseof Minimalism 559
PaulHorwich
25 The Metaphysics of Truth 579
MichaelDevitt
VII Primitivism, Identity Theory,and Alethic Pluralism 613
26 The Folly ofTrying toDefine Truth 623
Donald Davidson
27 Epistemologyand Primitive Truth 641
Ernest Sosa
28 Truth: The Identity Theory 663
JenniferHornsby
29 Truth as Identity and Truth asCorrespondence 683
Marian David
30 The Face of Cognition 705
Hilary Putnam
31 AFunctionalist Theory of Truth 723
MichaelP. Lynch
32 Minimalism, Deflationism, Pragmatism, Pluralism 751
Crispin Wright
Contributors 789
Index 793