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Full Idea
For Martin the fatal error of phenomenalists was their inability to supply credible truth-makers for truths about unobserved objects; the same error afflicted Ryle's behaviourism, ...and Prior's Presentism (for past-tensed and future-tensed truths).
Gist of Idea
Phenomenalists, behaviourists and presentists can't supply credible truth-makers
Source
Fraser MacBride (Truthmakers [2013], 3.1)
Book Ref
'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.22
A Reaction
This seems to be the original motivation for the modern rise of the truthmaker idea. Personally I find 'Napoleon won at Austerlitz' is a perfectly good past-tensed truthmaker which is compatible with presentism. Truth-making is an excellent challenge.
| 15775 | Truth-thinking does not make it so; it being so is what makes it true [Aristotle] |
| 5777 | The truth or falsehood of a belief depends upon a fact to which the belief 'refers' [Russell] |
| 18487 | We want to know what makes sentences true, rather than defining 'true' [McFetridge] |
| 18531 | Philosophers of the past took the truthmaking idea for granted [Heil] |
| 18344 | Truth and falsehood must track what does or doesn't exist [Bigelow] |
| 18484 | Phenomenalists, behaviourists and presentists can't supply credible truth-makers [MacBride] |
| 18335 | There are five problems which the truth-maker theory might solve [Rami] |
| 18334 | The truth-maker idea is usually justified by its explanatory power, or intuitive appeal [Rami] |