more from Fraser MacBride

Single Idea 18474

[catalogued under 3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 12. Rejecting Truthmakers]

Full Idea

If the sentence 'This sentence has no truth-maker' has a truth-maker, then it must be true. But then what it says must be the case, so it has no truth-maker. Hence by reductio the sentence has no truth-maker.

Gist of Idea

Does 'this sentence has no truth-maker' have a truth-maker? Reductio suggests it can't have

Source

Fraser MacBride (Truthmakers [2013], 2.1.1)

Book Reference

'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.11


A Reaction

[Argument proposed by Peter Milne 2005] Rodriguez-Pereyra replies that the sentence is meaningless, so that it can't possibly be true. The Liar sentence is also said to be meaningless. The argument opposes Maximalism.

Related Idea

Idea 18473 'Maximalism' says every truth has an actual truthmaker [MacBride]