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Why is a truth-predicate like a pronoun?

Båve, Arvid LU orcid (2009) In Philosophical Studies 145(2). p.297-310
Abstract
I begin with an exposition of the two main variants of the Prosentential Theory of Truth (PT), those of Dorothy Grover et al. and Robert Brandom. Three main types of criticisms are then put forward: (1) material criticisms to the effect that (PT) does not adequately explain the linguistic data, (2) an objection to the effect that no variant of (PT) gives a properly unified account of the various occurrences of “true” in English, and, most importantly, (3) a charge that the comparison with proforms is explanatorily idle. The last objection is that, given a complete semantic account of pronouns, proadjectives, antecedents, etc., together with a complete (PT), the essential semantic character of “true” could be deduced, but then, the idleness... (More)
I begin with an exposition of the two main variants of the Prosentential Theory of Truth (PT), those of Dorothy Grover et al. and Robert Brandom. Three main types of criticisms are then put forward: (1) material criticisms to the effect that (PT) does not adequately explain the linguistic data, (2) an objection to the effect that no variant of (PT) gives a properly unified account of the various occurrences of “true” in English, and, most importantly, (3) a charge that the comparison with proforms is explanatorily idle. The last objection is that, given a complete semantic account of pronouns, proadjectives, antecedents, etc., together with a complete (PT), the essential semantic character of “true” could be deduced, but then, the idleness of the comparison with pronouns would be apparent. It turns out that objections (2) and (3) are related in the following way: the prosentential terminology is held to conceal the lack of unity in (PT), by describing the different data in the same terms (“proform”, “antecedent”, etc.). But this, I argue, is only a way of truly describing, rather than explaining, the data, these being certain relations of equivalence and consequence between sentences. I consider a language for which (PT) would be not only true, but also explanatory, but note that this language is very different from English. I end by showing that Robert Brandom’s case that “is true” is not a predicate fails, and that his motivation for saying so is based on fallacious reasoning (namely, Boghossian’s argument against deflationism). (Less)
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author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Philosophical Studies
volume
145
issue
2
pages
297 - 310
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:70349504868
ISSN
0031-8116
DOI
10.1007/s11098-008-9232-2
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
02c7b00b-018d-467e-aaaa-ceddd8a22aa7
date added to LUP
2021-11-09 11:30:54
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:03:45
@article{02c7b00b-018d-467e-aaaa-ceddd8a22aa7,
  abstract     = {{I begin with an exposition of the two main variants of the Prosentential Theory of Truth (PT), those of Dorothy Grover et al. and Robert Brandom. Three main types of criticisms are then put forward: (1) material criticisms to the effect that (PT) does not adequately explain the linguistic data, (2) an objection to the effect that no variant of (PT) gives a properly unified account of the various occurrences of “true” in English, and, most importantly, (3) a charge that the comparison with proforms is explanatorily idle. The last objection is that, given a complete semantic account of pronouns, proadjectives, antecedents, etc., together with a complete (PT), the essential semantic character of “true” could be deduced, but then, the idleness of the comparison with pronouns would be apparent. It turns out that objections (2) and (3) are related in the following way: the prosentential terminology is held to conceal the lack of unity in (PT), by describing the different data in the same terms (“proform”, “antecedent”, etc.). But this, I argue, is only a way of truly describing, rather than explaining, the data, these being certain relations of equivalence and consequence between sentences. I consider a language for which (PT) would be not only true, but also explanatory, but note that this language is very different from English. I end by showing that Robert Brandom’s case that “is true” is not a predicate fails, and that his motivation for saying so is based on fallacious reasoning (namely, Boghossian’s argument against deflationism).}},
  author       = {{Båve, Arvid}},
  issn         = {{0031-8116}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{297--310}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Philosophical Studies}},
  title        = {{Why is a truth-predicate like a pronoun?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11098-008-9232-2}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11098-008-9232-2}},
  volume       = {{145}},
  year         = {{2009}},
}