Correspondence and Disquotation: An Essay on the Nature of Truth
Marian David defends the correspondence theory of truth against the disquotational theory of truth, its current major rival. The correspondence theory asserts that truth is a philosophically rich and profound notion in need of serious explanation. Disquotationalists offer a radically deflationary account inspired by Tarski and propagated by Quine and others. They reject the correspondence theory, insist truth is anemic, and advance an "anti-theory" of truth that is essentially a collection of...
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Marian David defends the correspondence theory of truth against the disquotational theory of truth, its current major rival. The correspondence theory asserts that truth is a philosophically rich and profound notion in need of serious explanation. Disquotationalists offer a radically deflationary account inspired by Tarski and propagated by Quine and others. They reject the correspondence theory, insist truth is anemic, and advance an "anti-theory" of truth that is essentially a collection of platitudes: "Snow is white" is true if and only if snow is white; "Grass is green" is true if and only if grass is green. According to disquotationalists the only profound insight about truth is that it lacks profundity. David contrasts the correspondence theory with disquotationalism and then develops the latter position in rich detail—more than has been available in previous literature—to show its faults. He demonstrates that disquotationalism is not a tenable theory of truth, as it has too many absurd consequences.
1Introduction31Substantive Truth and Deflationary Truth32Correspondence and Disquotation53The Theory of Truth74The Structure of a Theory of Truth105Sentences as Truth Bearers132Correspondence171Corresponding to Facts172Falsehood and Content253Representing States of Affairs That Obtain314Some Refinements405Expressing True Propositions456A General Correspondence Theory of Truth493Motivations for Deflationism521Some Basic Motivations522A Systematic Motivation: Eliminative Physicalism554Disquotation611Toward Disquotationalism: Simple Disquotation612An Objection to Simple Disquotation703Disquotationalism734Disquotational and Substitutional Quantification785Disquotation and Infinite Lists936Varieties of Deflationism1045Problems for Disquotationalism1071Problem One: Finite Statability1072Recursive Disquotation1103Recursive Correspondence and Recursive Disquotation1194Problem Two: Ideological Autonomy1245Problem Three: Necessity and Subjunctives1306Problem Four: Foreigners and Isolationism1357Indexing Truth1398Problem Five: Falsehood, Declaratives, Ambiguity, and Indexicals1489Problem Six: Specifying Idiolects15810Mental Disquotation16611Translational Disquotationalism1776Embrace Disquotationalism?187Appendix: The Disquotational Liar189References193Index199
