The Concept of Truth

✍ Scribed by Richard Campbell

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 273
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book addresses the contemporary disillusion with truth, manifest in sceptical relativism. Contending that all contemporary theories of truth are too narrow, it argues for a novel conception of truth, by showing how error is implicated in the actions of all living things; and by analyzing uses of 'true' in non-linguistic contexts.

✦ Table of Contents

Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 11
Quote......Page 12
1.1 The trouble with truth......Page 14
1.2 The undermining of truth......Page 17
1.3 The rise of relativism......Page 22
1.4 Confronting the challenge......Page 26
2.1 Conceptions and theories of truth......Page 30
2.2 Different conceptions of truth......Page 32
2.3 The linguistic conception......Page 33
2.4 Rendering truths explicit......Page 40
2.5 The ‘truth- values’ of linguistic items......Page 45
2.6 The relation of agreement......Page 49
2.7 Minimalist and disquotation theories......Page 54
3.1 Desiderata for truth-theories......Page 58
3.2 The relevance of the desiderata......Page 62
3.3 The point of the predicate “true”......Page 63
3.4 The opposition between truth and falsity......Page 67
3.5 Norms and facts......Page 68
3.6 Pointers to the primary locus of truth......Page 71
4 Truth in Action......Page 75
4.1 Self-maintenance......Page 76
4.2 Autonomous life......Page 79
4.3 Functions and normativity......Page 86
4.4 The emergence of goal-seeking......Page 89
4.5 The emergence of error......Page 91
4.6 Minimal action......Page 93
4.6.1 Goal-directedness......Page 94
4.6.2 The possibility of error......Page 96
4.6.3 Behaving as a functional whole......Page 99
4.7 Self-directed and reflective action......Page 101
4.8 The irreducibility of actions......Page 104
4.9 The actions of bacteria......Page 106
4.10 The grounding of truth......Page 108
5.1 Truth as the agreement of an object with its concept......Page 113
5.2 The normativity of truth......Page 117
5.3 Being genuine and being faithful......Page 119
5.4 Consistency in action......Page 123
5.5 The historicity of human being......Page 125
5.6 The temporality of truth......Page 128
5.7 Acting faithfully: Objectivity and openness......Page 131
6 The Genesis of Representations......Page 138
6.1 Representation as correspondence......Page 139
6.2 The interactive model of representation......Page 145
6.3 The term “representation”......Page 149
6.4 Detecting misrepresentations......Page 151
6.5 The biosemantic model......Page 155
6.6 Representations in human consciousness......Page 157
6.7 Representing objects......Page 162
7 Acts of Assertion......Page 170
7.1 Assertions as speech-acts......Page 171
7.2 Identifying assertions......Page 172
7.3 The function of linguistic representations......Page 177
7.4 Simple acts of assertion – referring......Page 181
7.5 Simple acts of assertion – predicating......Page 186
7.6 Simple acts of assertion – communicating......Page 187
7.7 Complex assertions......Page 191
8.1 Understanding and interpretation......Page 195
8.2 Interpretation and description......Page 200
8.3 Ascribing truth to statements......Page 205
8.4 Evaluating the T- schemata......Page 209
8.5 Appropriateness and success......Page 212
8.6 False statements......Page 217
9 The Challenge ofSceptical Relativism......Page 225
9.1 The possibility of truth......Page 226
9.2 Engaging with the world......Page 230
9.3 The relativist predisposition......Page 233
9.4 The presuppositions of relativism......Page 236
9.5 The human situation......Page 238
9.6 Relativity and truth......Page 246
10.1 Perspectives and faithfulness......Page 254
10.2 Openness to the truth......Page 257
10.3 Truth as a value......Page 259
Bibliography......Page 262
Index......Page 268