Truth and Objectivity

by Crispin Wright

Overview

Crispin Wright offers an original perspective on the place of “realism” in philosophical inquiry. He proposes a radically new framework for discussing the claims of the realists and the anti-realists. This framework rejects the classical “deflationary” conception of truth yet allows both disputants to respect the intuition that judgments, whose status they contest, are at least semantically fitted for truth and may often justifiably be regarded as true. In the course of his argument, Wright offers original critical discussions of many central concerns of philosophers interested in realism, including the “deflationary” conception of truth, internal realist truth, scientific realism and the theoreticity of observation, and the role of moral states of affairs in explanations of moral beliefs.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674910874
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/01/1994
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1530L (what's this?)

About the Author

Crispin Wright is Global Professor of Philosophy at New York University, Professor of Philosophical Research at the University of Stirling, and Regius Professor of Logic Emeritus at the University of Aberdeen.

Table of Contents

1. Inflating Deflationism

2. Minimal Truth, Internal Realism and Superassertibility

3. Convergence and Cognitive Command

Appendix: The Euthyphro Contrast

4. Cognitive Command and the Theoreticity of Observation

5. Realism and the Best Explanation of Belief

6. Quietism

Appendix: On an Argument against the Coherence of Minimalism about Meaning

Index

Editorial Reviews

Truth and Objectivity is a strikingly resourceful and serious book, imbued with respect for the difficulty of philosophical problems and a readiness to probe them with all the conceptual instruments of contemporary analytic philosophy.

International Journal of Philosophical Studies - Timothy Williamson

Besides its thorough and subtle examination of [the] multiple criteria of realism, the merit of Truth and Objectivity is to have shown how the naive picture of ‘objective facts’ fragments under scrutiny, to the point that it becomes unclear that we should continue to speak of realism and anti-realism within a domain as if they were definitive positions.

Times Literary Supplement - Paul Horwich

A milestone in the discussion of realism.

Mind - Jim Edwards

Full of interesting ideas and challenging arguments.

Philosophical Books - Frank Jackson

Truth and Objectivity is a strikingly resourceful and serious book, imbued with respect for the difficulty of philosophical problems and a readiness to probe them with all the conceptual instruments of contemporary analytic philosophy.

International Journal of Philosophical Studies - timothy Williamson

Truth and Objectivity is a strikingly resourceful and serious book, imbued with respect for the difficulty of philosophical problems and a readiness to probe them with all the conceptual instruments of contemporary analytic philosophy.
— timothy Williamson

International Journal of Philosophical Studies

Full of interesting ideas and challenging arguments,
— Frank Jackson

Philosophical Books

Besides its thorough and subtle examination of [the] multiple criteria of realism, the merit of Truth and Objectivity is to have shown how the naive picture of 'objective facts' fragments under scrutiny, to the point that it becomes unclear that we should continue to speak of realism and anti-realism within a domain as if they were definitive positions.
— Paul Horwich

Times Literary Supplement

A milestone in the discussion of realism
— Jim Edwards

Mind