The Liar Speaks The Truth: A Defense Of The Revision Theory Of Truth
by Aladdin M. Yaqub /
1993 / English / PDF
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In this book, Yaq=ub describes a simple conception of truth and
shows that it yields a semantical theory that accommodates the
whole range of our seemingly conflicting intuitions about truth.
This conception takes the Tarskian biconditionals (such as "The
sentence 'Johannes loved Clara' is true if and only if Johannes
loved Clara") as correctly and completely defining the notion of
truth. The semantical theory, which is called the revision theory,
that emerges from this conception paints a metaphysical picture of
truth as a property whose applicability is given by a revision
process rather than by a fixed extension. The main advantage of
this revision process is its ability to explain why truth seems in
many cases almost redundant, in others substantial, and yet in
others paradoxical (as in the famous Liar). Yaq=ub offers a
comprehensive defense of the revision theory of truth by developing
consistent and adequate formal semantics for languages in which all
sorts of problematic sentences (Liar and company) can be
constructed. Yaq=ub concludes by introducing a logic of truth that
further demonstrates the adequacy of the revision theory.
In this book, Yaq=ub describes a simple conception of truth and
shows that it yields a semantical theory that accommodates the
whole range of our seemingly conflicting intuitions about truth.
This conception takes the Tarskian biconditionals (such as "The
sentence 'Johannes loved Clara' is true if and only if Johannes
loved Clara") as correctly and completely defining the notion of
truth. The semantical theory, which is called the revision theory,
that emerges from this conception paints a metaphysical picture of
truth as a property whose applicability is given by a revision
process rather than by a fixed extension. The main advantage of
this revision process is its ability to explain why truth seems in
many cases almost redundant, in others substantial, and yet in
others paradoxical (as in the famous Liar). Yaq=ub offers a
comprehensive defense of the revision theory of truth by developing
consistent and adequate formal semantics for languages in which all
sorts of problematic sentences (Liar and company) can be
constructed. Yaq=ub concludes by introducing a logic of truth that
further demonstrates the adequacy of the revision theory.
