more from Donald Davidson

Single Idea 23297

[catalogued under 3. Truth / F. Semantic Truth / 1. Tarski's Truth / c. Meta-language for truth]

Full Idea

If the definition of the truth predicate is to be finite (Tarski insisted on this), the definition must take advantage of the fact that sentences, though potentially infinite in number, are constructed from a finite vocabulary.

Gist of Idea

The language to define truth needs a finite vocabulary, to make the definition finite

Source

Donald Davidson (The Folly of Trying to Define Truth [1999], p.23)

Book Reference

Davidson,Donald: 'Truth, Language and History' [OUP 2005], p.23


A Reaction

Not sure whether this is in the object language or the meta-language, though I guess the former.