more from Hartry Field

Single Idea 10825

[catalogued under 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 4. Uses of Truth]

Full Idea

I suspect that the original purpose of the notion of truth was to aid us in utilizing the utterances of others in drawing conclusions about the world,...so we must attend to its social role, and that being in a position to assert something is what counts.

Gist of Idea

The notion of truth is to help us make use of the utterances of others

Source

Hartry Field (Tarski's Theory of Truth [1972], §5)

Book Reference

'The Nature of Truth', ed/tr. Lynch, Michael P. [MIT 2001], p.388


A Reaction

[Last bit compressed] This sounds excellent. Deflationary and redundancy views are based on a highly individualistic view of utterances and truth, but we need to be much more contextual and pragmatic if we are to get the right story.