Truth Without Truths

In the context of debates about truth, nihilism is the view that nothing is true. This is a very striking and (at first) implausible thesis, which is perhaps why it is seldom discussed. Truth without Truths applies nihilism to the philosophical debates on truth and paradox, and explores how a nihilist approach to truth is a serious contender. David Liggins demonstrates that a strong case for nihilism about truth is available. The main grounds for taking nihilism on truth seriously are the solutions it provides to a wide range of paradoxes involving truth, and its epistemological superiority to theories that posit truths. The discussion considers a wider range of paradoxes than usual-including the truth-teller paradox and other paradoxes of underdetermination. Liggins shows how the debate over truth and paradox can be advanced by drawing on metaphysical debates about realism and anti-realism.

Truth without Truths is also a challenge to deflationism. Deflationists provide an austere, metaphysically lightweight account of truth. But there is one posit that all contemporary deflationists make: they posit truths. By showing that we can well do without truths, Liggins argues that deflationism is actually too lavish a position. Liggins's preferred form of alethic nihilism includes a Ramseyan analysis of the concept of truth, which uses quantification into sentence position, conceived of as non-objectual and non-substitutional. This book is part of a wider movement exploring the implications of admitting forms of non-objectual, non-substitutional quantification-sometimes called 'higher-order metaphysics'.

David Edward Liggins

David Liggins studied mathematics at Oxford, before taking a PhD in philosophy at the University of Sheffield. After a year at Cambridge as a researcher, he moved to the University of Manchester, where he is now a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy. His main research interests are in the philosophy of language, the philosophy of mathematics, and metaphysics-especially ontology. Liggins is the author of Abstract Objects (in the Cambridge University Press "Elements" series, 2024). For several years he has been involved in editing the journal Analysis.

IntroductionPart I: Alethic Nihilism against Paradox1. Introducing Alethic Nihilism2. Alethic Nihilism against Paradox3. The Superiority of the Nihilist Solutions to the ParadoxesPart Two:4. Alethic Nihilism as an Error TheoryPart Three: In Defence of Alethic Nihilism5. Truth in Philosophy6. Further Objections to NihilismPart Four: Alethic Nihilism and its Rivals7. Inconsistency Theories8. Primitivism9. FictionalismConclusion