The Primitivist Theory of Truth

by Jamin Asay

Overview

Jamin Asay's book offers a fresh and daring perspective on the age-old question 'What is truth?', with a comprehensive articulation and defence of primitivism, the view that truth is a fundamental and indefinable concept. Often associated with Frege and the early Russell and Moore, primitivism has been largely absent from the larger conversation surrounding the nature of truth. Asay defends primitivism by drawing on a range of arguments from metaphysics, philosophy of language and philosophy of logic, and navigates between correspondence theory and deflationism by reviving analytic philosophy's first theory of truth. In its exploration of the role that truth plays in our cognitive and linguistic lives, The Primitivist Theory of Truth offers an account of not just the nature of truth, but the foundational role that truth plays in our conceptual scheme. It will be valuable for students and scholars of philosophy of language and of metaphysics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316642498
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/16/2017
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Philosophy
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.35(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Jamin Asay is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Lingnan University, Hong Kong. He has published articles in journals including Philosophy of Science, Philosophia Mathematica, Philosophical Studies, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, and International Studies in the Philosophy of Science.

Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; 1. Truth, TRUTH, and 'Truth'; 2. The golden age of primitivism; 3. A two-pronged theory of truth; 4. Metaphysical deflationism; 5. Conceptual primitivism: treadmills and omnipresence; 6. Conceptual primitivism: open questions, foundations, and logical apparatus; 7. Tarski and primitivism; 8. Primitive truth at work; 9. Primitivism and the liar; Conclusion.