Primitivism about Truth
Edited by Jamin Asay (Purdue University)
About this topic
Summary | Primitivism about truth maintains that truth is a primitive, indefinable notion. Accordingly, primitivism is opposed to the traditional theories of truth, such as the correspondence theory, coherence theory, and pragmatic theory, which hold that truth can be defined into those further notions. Primitivism is also opposed to deflationary theories of truth, which maintain that truth is not a substantial notion. Hence, primitivism offers a substantial (i.e., non-deflationary) theory of truth, but one that resists definition in terms of any other notions. |
Key works | Primitivism has a distinguished history. At the dawn of analytic philosophy, G. E. Moore (Moore 1899) and Bertrand Russell (Russell 1904) both defended the view, as did Gottlob Frege. The most famous argument for primitivism, known variously as Frege's treadmill, regress, or circularity argument, is found in Frege 1956. The most important contemporary discussion of primitivism is found in the work of Donald Davidson, notably Davidson 1990 and Davidson 1996. For a sustained discussion and defense of primitivism, see Asay 2013. |
Introductions | For an accessible introduction to primitivism and some of the theoretical motivations for it, see Davidson 1996 and Wyatt 2022. |
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Related categories
Siblings:
- Coherence Theory of Truth (154)
- Correspondence Theory of Truth (327)
- Deflationism about Truth (1,039)
- Pragmatism about Truth (198)
- Tarskian Theories of Truth (172)
- Identity Theory of Truth (42)
- Revision Theory of Truth (128)
- Prosentential Theory of Truth (33)
- Pluralism about Truth (220)
- Contextualism about Truth (37)
- Theories of Truth, Misc (424)
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Editorial team
General Editors:
David Bourget (Western Ontario) David Chalmers (ANU, NYU) Area Editors: David Bourget Gwen Bradford Berit Brogaard Margaret Cameron David Chalmers James Chase Rafael De Clercq Ezio Di Nucci Esa Diaz-Leon Barry Hallen Hans Halvorson Jonathan Ichikawa Michelle Kosch Øystein Linnebo JeeLoo Liu Paul Livingston Brandon Look Manolo Martínez Matthew McGrath Michiru Nagatsu Susana Nuccetelli Giuseppe Primiero Jack Alan Reynolds Darrell P. Rowbottom Aleksandra Samonek Constantine Sandis Howard Sankey Jonathan Schaffer Thomas Senor Robin Smith Daniel Star Jussi Suikkanen Aness Kim Webster Other editors Contact us Learn more about PhilPapers |