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Single Idea 14412

[filed under theme 3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 12. Rejecting Truthmakers ]

Full Idea

That 'there might have been a dozen more fundamental particles' is true, but not appropriately about any existing entities or their properties. Since Truthmaker says that all truths are about existing entities, it must be false.

Gist of Idea

Speculations about non-existent things are not about existent things, so Truthmaker is false

Source

Trenton Merricks (Truth and Ontology [2007], 6.VI)

Book Ref

Merricks,Trenton: 'Truth and Ontology' [OUP 2007], p.145

A Reaction

Since I don't necessarily agree that 'there might have been a dozen more fundamental particles' (see Scientific Essentialism), and I take the disagreement to have some basis, I doubt this idea. What stops 'there could be circular squares' from being true?

The 15 ideas with the same theme [opposing the claim that all truths have truthmakers]:

19044 Saying truths fit experience adds nothing to truth; nothing makes sentences true [Davidson]
10750 Slingshot Argument: seems to prove that all sentences have the same truth-maker [Oliver]
9140 Which toothbrush is the truthmaker for 'buy one, get one free'? [Sorensen]
14024 Truthmaker has problems with generalisation, non-existence claims, and property instantiations [Crisp,TM]
14412 Speculations about non-existent things are not about existent things, so Truthmaker is false [Merricks]
14414 I am a truthmaker for 'that a human exists', but is it about me? [Merricks]
12442 'Mickey Mouse is a fictional mouse' is true without a truthmaker [Azzouni]
18474 Does 'this sentence has no truth-maker' have a truth-maker? Reductio suggests it can't have [MacBride]
18485 Even idealists could accept truthmakers, as mind-dependent [MacBride]
18490 Maybe 'makes true' is not an active verb, but just a formal connective like 'because'? [MacBride]
18493 Truthmaker talk of 'something' making sentences true, which presupposes objectual quantification [MacBride]
17318 Truthmakers for existence is fine; otherwise maybe restrict it to synthetic truths? [Liggins]
14480 Maybe analytic truths do not require truth-makers, as they place no demands on the world [Thomasson]
18863 What is the truthmaker for a possible new power? [Tallant]
19079 For idealists reality is like a collection of beliefs, so truths and truthmakers are not distinct [Young,JO]