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Truly Normative Matters: an Essay on the Value of Truth

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Truly Normative Matters: an Essay on the Value of Truth University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy Philosophy 2012 Truly Normative Matters: An Essay on the Value of Truth Charles Kamper Floyd III 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 Floyd, Charles Kamper III, "Truly Normative Matters: An Essay on the Value of Truth" (2012). Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy. 2. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/philosophy_etds/2 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. Charles Kamper Floyd III, Student Dr. Brandon Look, Major Professor Dr. Clare Batty, Director of Graduate Studies TRULY NORMATIVE MATTERS: AN ESSAY ON THE VALUE OF TRUTH ________________________________________________ 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 Charles Kamper Floyd, III Lexington, KY Director: Dr. Brandon Look, Professor of Philosophy Lexington, KY 2012 Copyright © Charles Kamper Floyd, III 2012 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION TRULY NORMATIVE MATTERS: AN ESSAY ON THE VALUE OF TRUTH Is truth valuable? In addressing this question, one must parse it into questions that are more manageable. Is the property of truth only instrumentally valuable, or is it both instrumentally valuable and noninstrumentally valuable? Is the normativity of the concept of truth an intrinsic or extrinsic property of the concept? In addressing the first of these questions, I show that certain arguments are flawed, arguments that purport to show that truth is not valuable in any kind of way. After establishing that it is reasonable to think that the property of truth is valuable, I show how inflationists and deflationists can agree that the property of truth is noninstrumentally valuable. In addressing the second question, I rely on the distinction between semantics and pragmatics and the resources of moral semantics to claim that the normativity of the concept of truth is an extrinsic feature of the concept. I conclude that the property of truth is both instrumentally and noninstrumentally valuable and that the normativity associated with the concept of truth is an extrinsic property of the concept. In doing so, I suggest that beginning with an investigation about the value and normativity of truth has important ramifications for theories of truth in general. KEYWORDS: Truth, Semantics/Pragmatics Distinction, Moral Semantics Normativity and Value Charles Kamper Floyd, III November 13, 2012 TRULY NORMATIVE MATTERS: AN ESSAY ON THE VALUE OF TRUTH By Charles Kamper Floyd, III Dr. Brandon Look Director of Dissertation Dr. Clare Batty Director of Graduate Studies November 13, 2012 For my family and my dear Sally. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction..................................................................................................................1 Chapter Two: Theories of Truth......................................................................................................13 Theories of Truth................................................................................................................... 13 The Purpose of the Theories.............................................................................................. 15 The Theories...........................................................................................................................18 Inflationism...............................................................................................................18 Inflationism—Monism..............................................................................19 Inflationism—Pluralism...........................................................................29 Deflationism..............................................................................................................34 Primitivism................................................................................................................ 39 Truth-bearers..........................................................................................................................41 Propositions..............................................................................................................42 Sentences...................................................................................................................45 Statements.................................................................................................................46 Mental States.............................................................................................................47 Many Truth-bearers.................................................................................................48 Further Commitments............................................................................................51 Chapter Three: Arguments Against the Value of Truth................................................................53 Rorty and the Value of Truth...............................................................................................55 Rorty’s Argument.....................................................................................................55 Rorty’s Failures.........................................................................................................64 Premise 1......................................................................................................64 Premise 3......................................................................................................70 Stich and the Value of Truth...............................................................................................74 Stich’s Argument......................................................................................................74 Stich’s Failures..........................................................................................................82 Rorty, Stich, and the Concept/Property Distinction.......................................................86 Chapter Four: The Value of the Property of Truth.......................................................................90 Lynch and the Value of the Property of Truth.................................................................92 Lynch on Intuition...................................................................................................96 Horwich on the Value of the Property of Truth............................................................106 Chapter Five: The Semantic/Pragmatic Debate and the Question of Normativity...............112 Norms of Truth....................................................................................................................113 The Semantic/Pragmatic Distinction................................................................................122 The Semantic/Pragmatic Distinction and the Normativity of Truth..........................132 Moral Semantics...................................................................................................................152 Conceptual Role Moral Semantics....................................................................................156 Chapter Six: Concluding Remarks..................................................................................................167 Bibliography........................................................................................................................................171 iii Vita.......................................................................................................................................................183 iv Chapter One: Introduction Is truth valuable? If so, in just what
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