THEORIES OF TRUTH
PHIL 352, Sec. 1001: MW 11:30am-12:45pm in CBC C235
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Fall 2018
Professor: James Woodbridge
email address:
Course Webpage: http://jwood.faculty.unlv.edu/unlv/Phil352F18.htm
Office Hours: M 2:30pm-4pm, T 12:30pm-2pm, and by appointment
Office: CDC 426
Office Phone: 895-4051
Dept. Phone: 895-3433
FIRST PAPER TOPICS
Pick one of following topics and write a 6-8 page/1800-2400 word paper fulfilling the tasks assigned.
Do not use any outside sources: just the course readings and discussion, and your own thinking.
Your paper is due via WebCampus, through the Turnitin.com program linked to the Assignment listing there, by 4pm, Thursday 10/18. The file that you send me for your paper should have the following format for its filename: yourstudentnumber.PHIL352F18.paper1.docx (or whatever file extension). Your name should not appear anywhere on your paper. Be sure you send me an editable file (like a .docx or .doc file, not a .pdf file).
Topics:
There are, in a sense, three topic choices for your first paper, each centered around one of the three specific correspondence theories of truth we have considered (by Russell, Wittgenstein, and Austin). The idea is to pick one of these theories as the best option out of the three. Your first task is to explain the central ideas of the theory you think is the best of the three. This will involve explaining, in your own words, how the theory you are focusing on understands three theoretical components. These are the three elements that Lynch, in his introduction to the section on correspondence theories of truth, points out that any such theory must account for: "what has the property of truth (the truth bearers), its correspondence (the truth relation), and the 'reality' to which it corresponds (the truth makers)." Pay particular attention to how the view you have chosen understands the truth-relation, that is, to how the view understands the correspondence that truth is supposed to involve. This starts with Kirkham's distinction between correspondence as congruence and correspondence as correlation, but you must go beyond that basic division to explain the details of the correspondence. In discussing these three aspects of your chosen theory, give reasons for preferring it over other two options of correspondence theory. Here the articles by David, Strawson, and Alston might help. Finally, discuss what you think is the biggest challenge facing the correspondence theory you are promoting. Here, the Putnam reading and Kirkham's discussions of objections to correspondence theories might be relevant (as well as other material on nonrealist or epistemic theories of truth). What do you think it would take to meet this challenge? Do you think this challenge can be met? Why or why not?
Be sure to look at my Paper Requirements and Policies and check this Numbered Comments Sheet to be aware of various writing infelicities that you should avoid.
Keep your paper within the page limit!