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Inflationary Truth-Theoretic Semantics University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy Philosophy 2012 INFLATIONARY TRUTH-THEORETIC SEMANTICS Michael Brady Horton University of Kentucky, [email protected] Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Horton, Michael Brady, "INFLATIONARY TRUTH-THEORETIC SEMANTICS" (2012). Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy. 1. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/philosophy_etds/1 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained and attached hereto needed written permission statements(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine). I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless a preapproved embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s dissertation including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Michael Brady Horton, Student Dr. Brandon Look, Major Professor Dr. Arnold Farr, Director of Graduate Studies INFLATIONARY TRUTH-THEORETIC SEMANTICS _____________________________________ DISSERTATION _____________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Michael Brady Horton Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Brandon Look, Professor of Philosophy Lexington, KY 2012 Copyright © Michael Brady Horton 2012 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION INFLATIONARY TRUTH-THEORETIC SEMANTICS I argue that satisfaction and reference—and therefore, truth—are multiply realizable properties. I advocate a novel approach motivated by a commitment to the robustness and fruitfulness of truth- theoretic approaches to natural language semantics. DEFLATIONISM: Philosophers keen on deflating the metaphysical pretensions of truth theories claim that we need not appeal to a substantive truth-property. Recently, however, some philosophers have sought to combine deflationism about truth with the view that our concept of truth or the truth-predicate can play an important role in natural language semantics. TRUTH-THEORETIC SEMANTICS: The goal of a formal semantic theory of a natural language is to provide both the semantic values of that language’s lexically primitive items as well as the semantically significant modes of combining those basic elements into meaningful and more complex expressions. Most approaches have in common a commitment to finite stateability and compositionality as well as a commitment to something like Davidson’s “Convention T.” PLURALISM: Pluralists about truth argue that different areas of discourse have different truth- properties. Can pluralism successfully be combined with a commitment to truth-theoretic semantics? OPEN SEMANTIC FUNCTIONALISM: The pluralist approaches to truth are unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. The only option, I argue, is to regard truth as multiply-realizable. Specifically, we should view the set of truth’s realizers as possessing non-actual members—as being “open.” Truth is defined in the usual way in terms of reference and satisfaction, but these latter two relations are to be understood as multiply realizable but open. The property of truth can be specified using the Ramsey/Lewis method. My final view—Open Semantic Functionalism— respects compositionality and finite stateability, avoids triviality, handles plurality, and fits with robust, explanatorily significant natural language semantic theories. KEYWORDS: Truth, Semantics, Deflationism, Pluralism, Multiple-Realizability Michael Brady Horton December 15, 2011 INFLATIONARY TRUTH-THEORETIC SEMANTICS By Michael Brady Horton _________Brandon Look_________ Director of Dissertation _________Arnold Farr___________ Director of Graduate Studies February 6, 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Truth-Theoretic Semantic Theories and the Deflationary Challenge ..................12 Chapter 2.1: Introduction ................................................................................................12 2.2: Theories of Meaning à la Davidson .........................................................................13 2.3: T-Sentences and the E-Language/I-Language Distinction ......................................21 2.4: Tarski: Deflationist? ................................................................................................34 2.5: A Challenge to the Received View ..........................................................................37 Chapter Three: The Deflationary Challenge ...............................................................................48 Chapter 3.1: Introduction ................................................................................................48 3.2: The Redundancy Theory ..........................................................................................52 3.3: Horwich’s Minimalism ............................................................................................56 3.4: Critique of Horwich .................................................................................................59 3.5: Disquotationalism ....................................................................................................62 3.6: Field’s Disquotationnalism ......................................................................................64 3.7: Critique of Disquotationalism ..................................................................................67 3.8: The Prosentential Theory .........................................................................................69 3.9: Brandom’s Theory of Truth .....................................................................................70 3.10: Brandom and Meaning...........................................................................................74 3.11: General Criticism of Deflationary Theories ..........................................................75 3.12: Hershfield: A Response to Williams .....................................................................78 Chapter Four: Inflationary Approaches to Truth ........................................................................88 Chapter 4.1: Introduction ................................................................................................88 iii 4.2: The Contenders ........................................................................................................89 4.3: Horgan et al.’s Contextual Semantics ......................................................................90 4.4: Semantic Standards and the Truth-Predicate ...........................................................98 4.5: Crispin Wright’s Minimalism ................................................................................100 4.6: Minimalism and Meaning ......................................................................................104 4.7: Gila Sher’s “Family Theory” .................................................................................105 4.8: “Familial” Truth and Meaning ...............................................................................113 4.9: Michael Lynch’s Alethic Functionalism................................................................115 4.10: Alethic Functionalism and Truth-Theoretic Semantics .......................................120 4.11: Worries for the Alethic Functionalist ..................................................................123 4.12: Alethic Functionalism and Logic .........................................................................125 4.13: Concluding Remarks............................................................................................127 Chapter Five: Open Semantic Functionalism ...........................................................................129 Chapter 5.1: Introduction ..............................................................................................129 5.2: Multiple-Realization Revised ................................................................................130 5.3: Semantic Disunity? ................................................................................................137
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