more from Michael Dummett

Single Idea 8183

[catalogued under 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 5. Meaning as Verification]

Full Idea

If justificationists succumb to the temptation for statements in the past, we shall view their senses as given by present memories and present traces of past events; but this will force us into a view of the past as itself changing.

Clarification

Dummett proposes 'justificationism' as a replacement for 'verificationism'

Gist of Idea

If truths about the past depend on memories and current evidence, the past will change

Source

Michael Dummett (Thought and Reality [1997], 6)

Book Reference

Dummett,Michael: 'Thought and Reality (Gifford Lectures)' [OUP 2006], p.77


A Reaction

Obviously Dummett attempts to sidestep this problem, but it strikes me as powerful support for the realist view about the past. How can we not be committed to the view that there are facts about the past quite unconnected to our verifying abilities?