An identity theory of truth / Julian Dodd.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dodd, Julian.

Contributor:

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Truth--Correspondence theory.

Truth.

Physical Description:

ix, 199 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Houndmills [England] : Macmillan Press ; New York : St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Summary:

This book argues that correspondence theories of truth fail because the relation that holds between a true thought and a fact is that of identity, not correspondence. Facts are not complexes of worldly entities which make thoughts true; they are merely true thoughts. According to Julian Dodd, the resulting "modest identity theory," while not defining truth, correctly diagnoses the failure of correspondence theories, and thereby prepares the ground for a defensible deflation of the concept of truth.

Contents:

1. Truthmakers, Facts and States of Affairs: a Critique of Correspondence

2. Propositions, Indirect Speech and Truthbearers

3. The Nature of Propositions: Thoughts versus States of Affairs

4. Facts are True Thoughts

5. From Correspondence to Identity

6. A Variety of Deflationism Defended

7. Aberrations of Rival Identity Theories.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 188-194) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0333682262

0312231997

OCLC:

45366827