Combining Texts

Ideas for 'Parmenides', 'Writing the Book of the World' and 'Replies to Critics'

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3 ideas

3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 3. Value of Truth
We don't care about plain truth, but truth in joint-carving terms [Sider]
     Full Idea: What we care about is truth in joint-carving terms, not just truth.
     From: Theodore Sider (Writing the Book of the World [2011], 04.5)
     A reaction: The thought is that it matters what conceptual scheme is used to express the truth (the 'ideology'). Truths can be true but uninformative or unexplanatory.
3. Truth / B. Truthmakers / 5. What Makes Truths / b. Objects make truths
Orthodox truthmaker theories make entities fundamental, but that is poor for explanation [Sider]
     Full Idea: According to the entrenched truthmaker theorist, the fundamental facts consist just of facts citing the existence of entities. It's hard to see how all the complexity we experience could possibly be explained from that sparse basis.
     From: Theodore Sider (Writing the Book of the World [2011], 08.5)
     A reaction: This may be the 'entrenched' truthmaker view, but it is not clear why there could not be more complicated fundamental truthmakers, with structure as well as entities. And powers.
3. Truth / C. Correspondence Truth / 1. Correspondence Truth
Names, descriptions and predicates refer to things; without that, language and thought are baffling [Davidson]
     Full Idea: The simple thesis that names and descriptions often refer to things, and that predicates often have an extension in the world of things, is obvious, and essential to the most elementary appreciation of both language and the thoughts we express.
     From: Donald Davidson (Replies to Critics [1998], p.323)
     A reaction: In 1983 Davidson had been a rare modern champion of the coherence theory of truth, but this is his clearest later renunciation of that view (and quite right too).