The enumerative character of Tarski's definition of truth and its general character in a Tarskian system

Synthese 126 (1-2):91 - 121 (2001)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper, I suggest an approach to the alleged problem with the Tarskian formal definition of truth: its enumerative character seems to make it unable to capture our pretheoretic general understanding of truth. For this purpose, after spelling out two requirements for extending an enumerative definition to new cases, I examine to what extent Tarski's Convention T provides what are needed for extending the Tarski's enumerative definition. I conclude that, though not explicitly providing what are needed, Convention T does implicitly suggest something quite promising and provide necessary conceptual resources for its further modifications. Then I suggest a Tarskian explicitly general definition of what it is to be a truth-definition on the basis of some theoretical and conceptual resources within Tarski's semantic theory, and I explain how it would make the Tarskian seemingly enumerative formal definition have a general character in accord with our pretheoretic understanding of truth. Finally, I examine the current proposal in comparison with Davidson's approach and in the light of Hintikka's new perspective

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,634

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

A conception of Tarskian logic.Gila Sher - 1989 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 70 (4):341-368.
The Philosophical Problem of Truth-Of.Robert Cummins - 1975 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 5 (1):103 - 122.
Tarski on the Concept of Truth.Greg Ray - 2018 - In Michael Glanzberg, The Oxford Handbook of Truth. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. pp. 695-717.
What Is a Tarskian Definition of Truth?Manuel García-Carpintero - 1996 - Philosophical Studies 82 (2):113 - 144.
Truth, proofs and functions.Jean Fichot - 2003 - Synthese 137 (1-2):43 - 58.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
101 (#219,004)

6 months
6 (#677,178)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Bo Mou
San Jose State University

Citations of this work

Truths ancient and modern.David Miller - 2011 - Manuscrito 34 (1):267-292.
Tarski, Quine, and “Disquotation” Schema (T).Bo Mou - 2000 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 38 (1):119-144.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Theory of knowledge.Roderick M. Chisholm - 1966 - Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,: Prentice-Hall.
Logic, semantics, metamathematics.Alfred Tarski - 1956 - Oxford,: Clarendon Press. Edited by John Corcoran & J. H. Woodger.
The semantic conception of truth and the foundations of semantics.Alfred Tarski - 1943 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 4 (3):341-376.

View all 18 references / Add more references