Semantics and Truth

Cham, Switzerland: Springer Verlag (2019)
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Abstract

The book provides a historical and systematic exposition of the semantic theory of truth formulated by Alfred Tarski in the 1930s. This theory became famous very soon and inspired logicians and philosophers. It has two different, but interconnected aspects: formal-logical and philosophical. The book deals with both, but it is intended mostly as a philosophical monograph. It explains Tarski’s motivation and presents discussions about his ideas as well as points out various applications of the semantic theory of truth to philosophical problems.

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Chapters

Interpretations, Comparisons and Philosophical Issues

The last chapter mostly discusses philosophical aspects. According to my general view on STT, I elaborate its various aspects and defend this theory against some philosophical objections. The list of the discussed problems is as follows: STT as a correspondence theory of truth, the status of T-equiv... see more

Semantic Theory of Truth—Formal Aspects

This chapter contains a detailed account of STT as a formal theory. The exposition considers truth as truth in a model. Firstly, truth-definition as satisfaction by all sequences of objects is explained. Arithmetic of natural numbers and its models play the crucial role in presenting various results... see more

Semantic Theory of Truth—Informal Aspects

This chapter outlines an intuitive approach to STT, very closely related to Tarski’s original approach. The essential role of the Liar antinomy and its solution by introducing the language/metalanguage distinction is stressed as well as the role of interpreted languages is pointed out. Finally, heur... see more

Matters of Semantics

As STT is a semantical theory, its presentation requires explaining what semantics is. This chapter contains a couple of historical and substantive information related to semantics, semantic antinomies, and formal languages.

Matters of Logic

Since STT is a logical theory, its relation to logic are very close. The task of this chapter consists in presenting logical concepts and theories relevant for the further discussion of STT. Particular sections are devoted to propositional calculus, first-order logic, metalogic, definitions of logic... see more

Tasks of Truth-Theories

This chapter concentrates on problems discussed in truth theories, namely truth-bearers, the question whether the concept of truth belongs to ontology, epistemology or axiology, the definability of truth, truth-criteria, formal properties of the division of truth-bearers into truths and falsehoods, ... see more

Truth in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Views on truth of German and Austrian philosophers as well as British philosophers are presented in this chapter. As Tarski as a mathematician and philosopher grew up in Poland, the special section is devoted to truth-definitions put forward by some Polish philosophers and logicians of the 20th cent... see more

Truth from Anselm of Canterbury to Kant

This chapter continues historical investigations covering the period from Anselm of Canterbury to Kant, including Abelard, St. Tomas Aquinas, Gassendi, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume. The special attention is paid to the history of the formula veritas est adequatio intellectus et rei.

Truth in Ancient Philosophy

This chapter opens the historical part of the book. I focus on Greek philosophy , some facts from other philosophical cultures are mentioned. The historical report in this and next chapters tries to show that the understanding of truth as saying how things are, is present in all cases taken into acc... see more

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Author's Profile

Jan Wolenski
Jagiellonian University

Citations of this work

Lvov-warsaw school.Jan Woleński - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Proof vs Truth in Mathematics.Roman Murawski - 2020 - Studia Humana 9 (3-4):10-18.
Alfred Tarski.Mario Gómez-Torrente - 2008 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Quine’s conflicts with truth deflationism.Teemu Tauriainen - 2022 - Asian Journal of Philosophy 1 (46):1-25.

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References found in this work

Inquiries Into Truth And Interpretation.Donald Davidson - 1984 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Logical foundations of probability.Rudolf Carnap - 1950 - Chicago]: Chicago University of Chicago Press.
Modal Logic as Metaphysics.Timothy Williamson - 2013 - Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
Philosophy of logic.Willard Van Orman Quine - 1970 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Edited by Simon Blackburn & Keith Simmons.

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