THEORIES OF TRUTH
(PHI 352, Sec. 001)
    Reading Assignments

    (Readings from the Lynch anthology, The Nature of Truth, are listed by author, title, and either chapter number or "pp." followed by page numbers. Readings from the Kirkham book, Theories of Truth, are listed by author and chapter number (sometimes with page specifications). On-line readings are listed by author and title and labled "on-line".)

  • For Aug. 29: Read Lynch, "Introduction: The Mystery of Truth" (pp. 1-6) and Kirkham, Chapter 1. Anyone needing a review of the notation of symbolic logic should also read Alex Miller's "Frege: Semantic Value and Reference" (on-line).
  • For Sep. 3: Labor Day! No class.
  • For Sep. 5: Read Kirkham, Chapter 2 (pp. 54-72) and Lynch, "Realism and the Correspondence Theory: Introduction" (pp. 9-15).
  • For Sep. 12: Read Russell, "Truth and Falsehood" (1) and Kirkham, Chapter 4 (pp. 119-124).
  • For Sep. 17: Read Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (on-line, Sections 1-3.01 on pp. 3-10), and read David, "Truth as Identity and Truth as Correspondence" (29). Be prepared for a Reading Quiz covering Russell, Wittgenstein, and David.
  • For Sep. 19: Read Austin, "Truth" (2) and Kirkham, Chapter 4 (pp. 124-140).
  • For Oct. 1: Re-read the material assigned for 9/19, then read Strawson, "Truth" (19) and Kirkham, Chapter 10 (pp. 307-313). Also, check out the suggested topics for the First Paper and either pick one of them or come see me to discuss an alternative topic (all alternative topics must be approved in advance). Papers will be due Wednesday 10/10.
  • For Oct. 3: Read Putnam, "Two Philosophical Perspectives" (11) and Alston, "A Realist Conception of Truth" (3). Reading Quiz postponed until Monday 10/8.
  • For Oct. 8: Be prepared for a Reading Quiz on Austin, Strawson, Putnam, and Alston. Also, be working on your papers.
  • For Oct. 10: Be prepared for discussion of Strawson, Putnam and Alston. The First Papers are now due in my office by 4pm, Friday, Oct. 12th (Note the new date and time!). If you want to hand your paper in early, slip it under my office door. You can email me a copy of your paper if you absolutely must to get it in on time, but you must then get me a hardcopy (of exactly the same paper) ASAP.
  • For Oct. 17: Read Kirkham, Chapters 2 (pp. 41-54) and 3 (pp. 73-79) and Lynch, "Coherence Theories: Introduction" (pp. 99-102).
  • For Oct. 22: Read Blanshard, "Coherence as the Nature of Truth" (5), and Kirkham, Chapter 3 (pp. 104-118).
  • For Oct. 24: Read Walker, "The Coherence Theory" (6).
  • For Nov. 5: Be prepared for a Reading Quiz on Alston, Blanshard, Kirkham, and Walker. Then read Lynch, "Pragmatism and Verificationism: Introduction" (pp. 185-191). Then read Peirce, "How to Make Our Ideas Clear" and Kirkham, Chapter 3 (pp. 79-87). If you would like to learn more about Peirce's views (e.g., on the nature of belief) you can read "The Fixation of Belief".
  • For Nov. 7: Read James, "Pragmatism's Conception of Truth" (9). Then read Kirkham, Chapter 3 (pp. 87-104).
  • For Nov. 12: No Class. Be working on the Second Paper. Papers will be due Wednesday 11/21. In the meantime, if you want to learn about more contemporary Pragmatism, you can read Rorty, "Is Truth a Goal of Inquiry? Donald Davidson versus Crispin Wright" (12).
  • For Nov. 14: Read Lynch, "Tarski's Theory and Its Importance: Introduction" (pp. 323-329) and Tarski, "The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics" (15). Then read Kirkham, Chapter 5. Further help in understanding the technical aspects of Tarski's view is available in Alex Miller's "Tarskian Truth-Theories".
  • For Nov. 19: Be prepared for a Reading Quiz on Walker, Peirce, James, and Kirkham (on Peirce and James)--Note: moved to Wednesday 11/21. Also, be working on your papers.
  • For Nov. 21: Second Paper due! Also, be prepared for the Reading Quiz!
  • For Nov. 26: Read Lynch, "Deflationary Views and Their Critics: Introduction" (pp. 421-431) and Ramsey, "The Nature of Truth" (18) and Quine "Truth" (20). Then read Kirkham, Chapter 10 (pp. 317-321, 329-339). Be prepared for a Reading Quiz on Tarski, Kirkham (on Tarski), Ramsey, and Quine.
  • For Nov. 28: Reading Quiz (moved from 11/26). Also, read Horwich, "A Defense of Minimalism" (24) and Kirkham, Chapter 10 (pp. 339-350). (Second Papers will be returned Monday 12/3.)
  • For Dec. 3: Read Gupta, "A Critique of Deflationism" (23). Be working on the Third Paper, due 12/10.
  • For Dec. 5: Read Devitt, "The Metaphysics of Truth" (25). Be prepared for a Reading Quiz on Horwich, Kirkham (on Deflationism and Horwich), Gupta, and Devitt.
  • For Dec. 14: Third Paper due! Bring them to me in my office by 2pm.
    For anyone interested in reading about my views on the notion of truth, you can look at a short, talk-version of my account here, another fairly short paper on the generalization problem for deflationism here, and the full-length paper presenting my view here.
Last updated December 6, 2007

This site is maintained by James A. Woodbridge.

This document was created on August 26, 2007.