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Full Idea
If the sentence 'This sentence has no truth-maker' has a truth-maker, then it must be true. But then what it says must be the case, so it has no truth-maker. Hence by reductio the sentence has no truth-maker.
Gist of Idea
Does 'this sentence has no truth-maker' have a truth-maker? Reductio suggests it can't have
Source
Fraser MacBride (Truthmakers [2013], 2.1.1)
Book Ref
'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.11
A Reaction
[Argument proposed by Peter Milne 2005] Rodriguez-Pereyra replies that the sentence is meaningless, so that it can't possibly be true. The Liar sentence is also said to be meaningless. The argument opposes Maximalism.
Related Idea
Idea 18473 'Maximalism' says every truth has an actual truthmaker [MacBride]
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] |