Title: Epistemic theories of truth: The justifiability paradox investigated
Abstract: Epistemic theories of truth, such as those presumed to be typical for anti-realism, can be characterised as saying that what is true can be known in principle: p → ◊Kp. However, with statements of the form “p & ℜKp”, a contradiction arises if they are both true and known. Analysis of the nature of the paradox shows that such statements refute epistemic theories of truth only if the the anti-realist motivation for epistemic theories of truth is not taken into account. The motivation in a link of understandability ans meaningfulness suggests to change the above principle and to restrict the theory to logically simple sentences, in which case the paradox does not arise. This suggestion also allows to see the deep philosophical problems for anti-realism those counterexamples are pointing at. In the manifold and vexed debate on realism an argument has surfaced that its proponents take to be a decisive move against theories that can broadly be labelled antirealist. The argument, first sketched by Frederick Fitch in 1963 but only debated since William D. Hart mentioned it briefly in a paper he presented at the “Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association” in 1979, is supposed to present us with truths that cannot be known, thus refuting a central thesis of anti-realism. In this paper, we shall first develop a strong version of a variant of the argument against an anti-realist account of truth and then see what its philosophical significance comes to. Even though we find the argument to be sound, we do not think that it endangers the core of anti-realism. The anti-realist can live with it if he formulates his position on the issue of truth more cautiously ‐ but in line with his initial intentions. I. Let us start with a short presentation of the argument as it was developed by Hart. Michael Dummett once formulated, what we shall call the anti-realist principle of knowa
Publication Year: 1996
Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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