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Single Idea 14397

[filed under theme 3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 5. What Makes Truths / c. States of affairs make truths ]

Full Idea

The claim 'that Fido is brown' seems to demand only a brown Fido, but Truthmaker demands more. It demands both that a state of affairs along the lines of 'Fido's being brown' exists, and also that this state has its constituents essentially.

Gist of Idea

Truthmaker demands not just a predication, but an existing state of affairs with essential ingredients

Source

Trenton Merricks (Truth and Ontology [2007], 4.I)

Book Ref

Merricks,Trenton: 'Truth and Ontology' [OUP 2007], p.69

A Reaction

One would need to reread Merricks to get this clear, but my instinct is that the two scenarios are not very different. 'A brown Fido' would require Fido to be necessarily brown to do the job.

The 5 ideas with the same theme [truths are made true by some state of affairs]:

13881 We need to grasp not number-objects, but the states of affairs which make number statements true [Frege, by Wright,C]
23462 He says the world is the facts because it is the facts which fix all the truths [Wittgenstein, by Morris,M]
14397 Truthmaker demands not just a predication, but an existing state of affairs with essential ingredients [Merricks]
15394 Truthmaker requires a commitment to tropes or states of affairs, for contingent truths [Cameron]
18341 Truth-makers seem to be states of affairs (plus optional individuals), or individuals and properties [Rami]