Knowability and bivalence: intuitionistic solutions to the Paradox of Knowability

Philosophical Studies 149 (2):269-281 (2010)
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Abstract

In this paper, I focus on some intuitionistic solutions to the Paradox of Knowability. I first consider the relatively little discussed idea that, on an intuitionistic interpretation of the conditional, there is no paradox to start with. I show that this proposal only works if proofs are thought of as tokens, and suggest that anti-realists themselves have good reasons for thinking of proofs as types. In then turn to more standard intuitionistic treatments, as proposed by Timothy Williamson and, most recently, Michael Dummett. Intuitionists can either point out the intuitionistc invalidity of the inference from the claim that all truths are knowable to the insane conclusion that all truths are known, or they can outright demur from asserting the existence of forever-unknown truths, perhaps questioning—as Dummett now suggests—the applicability of the Principle of Bivalence to a certain class of empirical statements. I argue that if intuitionists reject strict finitism—the view that all truths are knowable by beings just like us—the prospects for either proposal look bleak.

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Author's Profile

Julien Murzi
University of Salzburg

References found in this work

Knowledge and its limits.Timothy Williamson - 2000 - New York: Oxford University Press.
The taming of the true.Neil Tennant - 1997 - New York: Oxford University Press.
A logical analysis of some value concepts.Frederic Fitch - 1963 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 28 (2):135-142.
Wang's paradox.Michael Dummett - 1975 - Synthese 30 (3-4):201--32.
The Philosophical Basis of Intuitionistic Logic.Michael Dummett - 1975 - In Truth and other enigmas. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. pp. 215--247.

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