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Single Idea 8191

[filed under theme 19. Language / C. Assigning Meanings / 6. Truth-Conditions Semantics ]

Full Idea

It is not enough for the truth-condition theorist to argue that we need the concept of truth: he must show that we should have the same conception of truth that he has.

Gist of Idea

The truth-conditions theory must get agreement on a conception of truth

Source

Michael Dummett (Truth and the Past [2001], 2)

Book Ref

Dummett,Michael: 'Truth and the Past (Dewey Lectures)' [Columbia 2004], p.35


A Reaction

Davidson invites us to accept Tarski's account of truth. It invites the question of what the theory would be like with a very robust correspondence account of truth, or a flabby rather subjective coherence view, or the worst sort of pragmatic view.


The 11 ideas from 'Truth and the Past'

Truth-condition theorists must argue use can only be described by appeal to conditions of truth [Dummett]
The truth-conditions theory must get agreement on a conception of truth [Dummett]
Intuitionists rely on the proof of mathematical statements, not their truth [Dummett]
I no longer think what a statement about the past says is just what can justify it [Dummett]
Verification is not an individual but a collective activity [Dummett]
Undecidable statements result from quantifying over infinites, subjunctive conditionals, and the past tense [Dummett]
Surely there is no exact single grain that brings a heap into existence [Dummett]
A 'Cambridge Change' is like saying 'the landscape changes as you travel east' [Dummett]
Maybe past (which affects us) and future (which we can affect) are both real [Dummett]
The present cannot exist alone as a mere boundary; past and future truths are rendered meaningless [Dummett]
The existence of a universe without sentience or intelligence is an unintelligible fantasy [Dummett]