The Nature of Truth, second edition Classic and Contemporary Perspectives

The definitive and essential collection of classic and new essays on analytic theories of truth, revised and updated, with seventeen new chapters.

The question "What is truth?" is so philosophical that it can seem rhetorical. Yet truth matters, especially in a "post-truth" society in which lies are tolerated and facts are ignored. If we want to understand why truth matters, we first need to understand what it is. The Nature of Truth offers the definitive collection of classic and contemporary essays on analytic theories of truth. This second edition has been extensively revised and updated, incorporating both historically central readings on truth's nature as well as up-to-the-moment contemporary essays. Seventeen new chapters reflect the current trajectory of research on truth.

Michael P. Lynch is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, where he directs the Humanities Institute. In 2019 he was awarded the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language. Jeremy Wyatt is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Junyeol Kim is Visiting Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Connecticut. Nathan Kellen is Visiting Assistant Professor in Philosophy at Kansas State University.

Preface to the Second Edition: Truth in a Post-Truth Age ix
Michael P. Lynch
Acknowledgments xiii
Original Sources xv
Introduction: The Metaphysics of Truth 1
Michael P. Lynch
I Correspondence Theories
Introduction 9
Michael P. Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, and Junyeol Kim
1 Truth and Falsehood 17
Bertrand Russell
2 Truth 23
J. L. Austin
3 A Realist Conception of Truth 37
William P. Alston
4 On Truth 57
Ruth Garrett Millikan
5 In Search of a Substantive Theory of Truth 71
Gila Sher
II Coherence Theories Introduction 103
Michael P. Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, and Junyeol Kim
6 Coherence as the Nature of Truth 107
Brand Blanshard
7 The Coherence Theory 121
Ralph C. S. Walker
III Pragmatist and Verificationist Theories
Introduction 151
Michael P. Lynch, Nathan Kellen, and Jeremy Wyatt
8 How to Make Our Ideas Clear 159
Charles Sanders Peirce
9 Pragmatism’s Conception of Truth 173
William James
10 Truth, Inquiry, and Experience: A Pragmatist Epistemology 187
Cheryl Misak
11 Truth 209
Michael Dummett
12 Two Philosophical Perspectives 225
Hilary Putnam
13 Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry? Donald Davidson versus Crispin Wright 231
Richard Rorty
IV Tarski’s Theory and Its Importance
Introduction 257
Michael P. Lynch, Nathan Kellen, and Jeremy Wyatt
14 The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics 265
Alfred Tarski
15 Tarski’s Theory of Truth 291
Hartry Field
V Deflationary Theories
Introduction 319
Jeremy Wyatt
16 The Nature of Truth 335
Frank Plumpton Ramsey
17 Truth 345
P. F. Strawson
18 Truth 359
W. V. O. Quine
19 Transparent Truth as a Logical Property 367
Jc Beall
20 The Prosentential Theory: Further Reflections on Locating Our Interest in Truth 379
Dorothy Grover
21 A Defense of Minimalism 397
Paul Horwich
22 A Substitutional Theory of Truth, Reference, and Semantic Correspondence 413
Christopher Hill
23 Deflationism as Alethic Fictionalism via a SPIF Account of Truth-Talk 429
Bradley Armour-Garb and James A. Woodbridge
24 Truth and Insubstantiality: The Metaphysics of Deflationism 455
Jeremy Wyatt
25 The Use of Force against Deflationism: Assertion and Truth 475
Dorit Bar-On and Keith Simmons
VI Primitivist and Identity Theories Introduction 505
Michael P. Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, and Junyeol Kim
26 The Folly of Trying to Define Truth 511
Donald Davidson
27 Primitivism about Truth 525
Jamin Asay
28 Truth: The Identity Theory 539
Jennifer Hornsby
VII Pluralist and Replacement Theories
Introduction 557
Michael P. Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, and Nathan Kellen
29 Minimalism, Deflationism, Pragmatism, Pluralism 567
Crispin Wright
30 Three Questions for Truth Pluralism 597
Michael P. Lynch
31 Truth, Winning, and Simple Determination Pluralism 619
Douglas Edwards
32 Austere Truth Pluralism 629
Filippo Ferrari, Sebastiano Moruzzi, and Nikolaj Jang Lee Linding Pedersen
33 Deflationism, Pluralism, Expressivism, Pragmatism 657
Simon Blackburn
34 Conceptual Engineering and Replacements for Truth 671
Kevin Scharp
35 Keeping “True”: A Case Study in Conceptual Ethics 693
Alexis Burgess
Contributors 719
Index 721