The Nature of Truth

Classic and Contemporary Perspectives

Edited by Michael P. Lynch
Overview
"What is truth?" has long been the philosophical question par excellence. The Nature of
Truth collects in one volume the twentieth century's most influential philosophical work on
the subject. The coverage strikes a balance between classic works and the leading edge
of current philosophical research.
The essays center around two questions: Does truth have an underlying nature? And if so,
what sort of nature does it have? Thus the book discusses both traditional and deflationary
theories of truth, as well as phenomenological, postmodern, and pluralist approaches to
the problem. The essays are organized by theory. Each of the seven sections opens with a
detailed introduction that not only discusses the essays in that section but relates them to
other relevant essays in the book. Eleven of the essays are previously unpublished or
substantially revised. The book also includes suggestions for further reading.
Contributors: Linda Martín Alcoff, William P. Alston, J.L. Austin, Brand Blanshard, Marian
David, Donald Davidson, Michael Devitt, Michael Dummett, Hartry Field, Michel Foucault,
Dorothy Grover, Anil Gupta, Martin Heidegger, Terence Horgan, Jennifer Hornsby, Paul
Horwich, William James, Michael P. Lynch, Charles Sanders Pierce, Hilary Putnam,
W.V.O. Quine, F.P. Ramsey, Richard Rorty, Bertrand Russell, Scott Soames, Ernest Sosa,
P.F. Strawson, Alfred Tarski, Ralph C. Walker, Crispin Wright.

Table of Contents
1. Preface
PDF (124.1 KB)
2. Acknowledgments
PDF (127.6 KB)
3. Introduction: The Mystery of Truth
PDF (143.3 KB)
4. I. Realism and the Correspondence Theory
PDF (141.6 KB)
5. 1. Truth and Falsehood
Bertrand Russell
PDF (143.6 KB)
6. 2. Truth
J. L. Austin
PDF (176.1 KB)
7. 3. A Realist Conception of Truth
William P. Alston
PDF (208.5 KB)
8. 4. Contextual Semantics and Metaphysical Realism: Truth as Indirect
 Correspondence
Terence Horgan
PDF (223 KB)
9. II. Coherence Theories
PDF (131.5 KB)
10.5. Coherence as the Nature of Truth
Brand Blanshard
PDF (183.4 KB)
11.6. The Coherence Theory
Ralph C. S. Walker
PDF (246.2 KB)
12.7. The Case for Coherence
Linda Martín Alcoff
PDF (199.6 KB)
13.III. Pragmatism and Verificationism
PDF (141.1 KB)
14.8. How to Make Our Ideas Clear
Charles Sanders Peirce
PDF (176.7 KB)
15.9. Pragmatism's Conception of Truth
William James
PDF (181.1 KB)
16.10. Truth
Michael Dummett
PDF (193 KB)
17.11. Two Philosophical Perspectives
Hilary Putnam
PDF (143.9 KB)
18.12. Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry? Donald Davidson versus Crispin Wright
Richard Rorty
PDF (219.6 KB)
19.IV. Phenomenological and Postmodernist Conceptions
PDF (135 KB)
20.13. On the Essence of Truth
Martin Heidegger
PDF (193.7 KB)
21.14. Truth and Power
 Michel Foucault
PDF (126.6 KB)
22.V. Tarski's Theory of Its Importance
PDF (140.9 KB)
23.15. The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics
Alfred Tarski
PDF (237.2 KB)
24.16. Tarski's Theory of Truth
Hartry Field
PDF (245.7 KB)
25.17. What Is a Theory of Truth?
Scott Soames
PDF (205.8 KB)
26.VI. Deflationary Views and Their Critics
PDF (157.1 KB)
27.18. The Nature of Truth
Frank Plumpton Ramsey
PDF (171.6 KB)
28.19. Truth
P. F. Strawson
PDF (207.4 KB)
29.20. Truth
W. V. O. Quine
PDF (154 KB)
30.21. Correspondence Truth, Disquotational Truth, and Deflationism
Hartry Field
PDF (159.7 KB)
31.22. The Prosentential Theory: Further Reflections on Locating Our Interest in Truth
Dorothy Grover
PDF (198.7 KB)
32.23. A Critique of Deflationism
Anil Gupta
PDF (227.8 KB)
33.24. A Defense of Minimalism
Paul Horwich
PDF (196.4 KB)
34.25. The Metaphysics of Truth
 Michael Devitt
PDF (233.6 KB)
35.VII. Primitivism, Identity Theory, and Alethic Pluralism
PDF (142.2 KB)
36.26. The Folly of Trying to Define Truth
Donald Davidson
PDF (185.1 KB)
37.27. Epistemology and Primitive Truth
Ernest Sosa
PDF (194.9 KB)
38.28. Truth: The Identity Theory
Jennifer Hornsby
PDF (191.1 KB)
39.29. Truth as Identity and Truth as Correspondence
Marian David
PDF (196.1 KB)
40.30. The Face of Cognition
Hilary Putnam
PDF (191.6 KB)
41.31. A Functionalist Theory of Truth
Michael P. Lynch
PDF (215 KB)
42.32. Minimalism, Deflationism, Pragmatism, Pluralism
Crispin Wright
PDF (258.9 KB)
43.Contributors
PDF (129.4 KB)
44.Index
PDF (146.7 KB)