Discussions
On Mixed Inferences and Pluralism about Truth Predicates
Article first published online: 7 JAN 2003
DOI: 10.1111/1467-9213.00194
The Editors of The Philosophical Quarterly 2000
Additional Information
How to Cite
Beall, J. C. (2000), On Mixed Inferences and Pluralism about Truth Predicates. The Philosophical Quarterly, 50: 380–382. doi: 10.1111/1467-9213.00194
Publication History
- Issue published online: 13 JAN 2004
- Article first published online: 7 JAN 2003
- Abstract
- References
- Cited By
A familiar view concerning sentences about the ethical or comical is that they are not truth-apt – not capable of being true or false. Against this view Peter Geach famously noted that such sentences may figure in true (or false) conditionals and so must thereby be truth-apt. In response to Geach's argument, Crispin Wright proposed a pluralism about truth predicates, a pluralism which sees Geach's conditional clauses as being true in a sense that avoids realism about the entities involved. I defend Wright's proposal against an interesting recent attack by Christine Tappolet, and show that, pace Tappolet, Wright's proposed pluralism is compatible with the Tarskian idea that validity is necessary truth-preservation.

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