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Single Idea 6332

[filed under theme 3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 3. Correspondence Truth critique ]

Full Idea

The common-sense notion that truth is a kind of 'correspondence with the facts' has never been worked out to anyone's satisfaction.

Gist of Idea

The common-sense theory of correspondence has never been worked out satisfactorily

Source

Paul Horwich (Truth (2nd edn) [1990], Ch.1)

Book Ref

Horwich,Paul: 'Truth (2nd edn)' [OUP 1998], p.1

A Reaction

I've put this in to criticise it. Philosophy can't work by rejecting theories which can't be 'worked out', and accepting theories (like Tarski's) because they can be 'worked out'. All our theories will end up minimal, and defiant of common sense.

The 23 ideas from Paul Horwich

2798 Probability of H, given evidence E, is prob(H) x prob(E given H) / prob(E) [Horwich]
2799 Bayes' theorem explains why very surprising predictions have a higher value as evidence [Horwich]
8432 Analyse counterfactuals using causation, not the other way around [Horwich]
8431 Problems with Goodman's view of counterfactuals led to a radical approach from Stalnaker and Lewis [Horwich]
9339 A priori knowledge (e.g. classical logic) may derive from the innate structure of our minds [Horwich]
9341 Meanings and concepts cannot give a priori knowledge, because they may be unacceptable [Horwich]
9342 Understanding needs a priori commitment [Horwich]
9331 How do we determine which of the sentences containing a term comprise its definition? [Horwich]
9333 A priori belief is not necessarily a priori justification, or a priori knowledge [Horwich]
9332 Meaning is generated by a priori commitment to truth, not the other way around [Horwich]
9334 If we stipulate the meaning of 'number' to make Hume's Principle true, we first need Hume's Principle [Horwich]
23299 Horwich's deflationary view is novel, because it relies on propositions rather than sentences [Horwich, by Davidson]
6332 The common-sense theory of correspondence has never been worked out satisfactorily [Horwich]
6336 No deflationary conception of truth does justice to the fact that we aim for truth [Horwich]
6337 The deflationary picture says believing a theory true is a trivial step after believing the theory [Horwich]
6334 The function of the truth predicate? Understanding 'true'? Meaning of 'true'? The concept of truth? A theory of truth? [Horwich]
6335 The redundancy theory cannot explain inferences from 'what x said is true' and 'x said p', to p [Horwich]
6338 We could know the truth-conditions of a foreign sentence without knowing its meaning [Horwich]
6339 Logical form is the aspects of meaning that determine logical entailments [Horwich]
6340 There are Fregean de dicto propositions, and Russellian de re propositions, or a mixture [Horwich]
6341 Right translation is a mapping of languages which preserves basic patterns of usage [Horwich]
6342 Some correspondence theories concern facts; others are built up through reference and satisfaction [Horwich]
6344 Truth is a useful concept for unarticulated propositions and generalisations about them [Horwich]