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Single Idea 18509

[filed under theme 3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 3. Truthmaker Maximalism ]

Full Idea

I do not subscribe to the thesis that every truth requires a truthmaker. Mathematical truths and truths of logic are compatible with any way the universe could be.

Gist of Idea

Not all truths need truthmakers - mathematics and logic seem to be just true

Source

John Heil (The Universe as We Find It [2012], 01.5)

Book Ref

Heil,John: 'The Universe as We Find It' [OUP 2012], p.10


A Reaction

He makes that sound like a knock-down argument, but I'm not convinced. I see logic and mathematics as growing out of nature, though that is a very unfashionable view. I'm almost ashamed of it. But I'm not giving it up. See Carrie Jenkins.


The 9 ideas with the same theme [there cannot be a truth which doesn't have a truthmaker]:

Truths need not always have their source in what exists [Fine,K]
Not all truths need truthmakers - mathematics and logic seem to be just true [Heil]
'Maximalism' says every truth has an actual truthmaker [MacBride]
Maximalism follows Russell, and optimalism (no negative or universal truthmakers) follows Wittgenstein [MacBride]
Surely if some propositions are grounded in existence, they all are? [Cameron]
If maximalism is necessary, then that nothing exists has a truthmaker, which it can't have [Cameron]
The truth-maker principle is that every truth has a sufficient truth-maker [Forrest]
Central idea: truths need truthmakers; and possibly all truths have them, and makers entail truths [Rami]
Maybe only 'positive' truths need truth-makers [Tallant]