Abstract

According to the Truthmaker Principle: every truth has a truthmaker. Spelled out a bit more exactly: for every true proposition, there is some entity whose existence entails, or necessitates, the truth of the proposition. A counterpart theorist can accept the Truthmaker Principle after all without buying into unmereological composition and mysterious necessary connections. This chapter introduces the idea of truthmaking, and considers how much truthmaking can be done by things without making controversial assumptions in modal metaphysics. It presents Armstrong's account of truthmaking and the states of affairs needed to play the role of truthmakers. A fortiori should not be taken to be a version of the correspondence theory of truth. The chapter presents David Lewis's critique of the Truthmaker Principle, and the ontology of states of affairs that (typically) goes with it. Lewis's claim that he can accept the Truthmaker Principle is also presented here.