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Ideas for 'works', 'Truth' and 'Hippias Major'

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4 ideas

3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 1. Truth
It is part of the concept of truth that we aim at making true statements [Dummett]
     Full Idea: It is part of the concept of truth that we aim at making true statements.
     From: Michael Dummett (Truth [1959], p.231)
     A reaction: This strikes me as a rather contentious but very interesting claim. An even stronger claim might be that its value (its normative force) is ALL that the concept of truth contributes to speech, other aspects being analysed into something else.
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 2. Defining Truth
We must be able to specify truths in a precise language, like winning moves in a game [Dummett]
     Full Idea: For a particular bounded language, if it is free of ambiguity and inconsistency, it must be possible to characterize the true sentences of the language; somewhat as, for a given game, we can say which moves are winning moves.
     From: Michael Dummett (Truth [1959], p.237)
     A reaction: The background of this sounds rather like Tarski, with truth just being a baton passed from one part of the language to another, though Dummett adds the very un-Tarskian notion that truth has a value.
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 9. Rejecting Truth
Derrida says that all truth-talk is merely metaphor [Derrida, by Engel]
     Full Idea: Derrida's view is that every discourse is metaphorical, and there is no difference between truth-talk and metaphor.
     From: report of Jacques Derrida (works [1990]) by Pascal Engel - Truth §2.5
     A reaction: Right. Note that this is a Frenchman's summary. How would one define metaphor, without mentioning that it is parasitic on truth? Certainly some language tries to be metaphor, and other language tries not to be.
True thoughts are inaccessible, in the subconscious, prior to speech or writing [Derrida]
     Full Idea: 'True' thoughts are inaccessible, buried in the subconscious, long before they get to speech or writing.
     From: Jacques Derrida (works [1990]), quoted by Barry Stocker - Derrida on Deconstruction
     A reaction: [My reading of some Derrida produced no quotations. I've read two commentaries, which were obscure. The Derrida ideas in this db are my simplistic tertiary summaries. Experts can chuckle over my failure]