Below you’ll find our course schedule along with links to the readings for each week. (Many (but not all) of the readings are available in the collection The Nature of Truth: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives, second edition, 2021, edited by Michael P. Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, Junyeol Kim, and Nathan Kellen. If you’d like a copy of the book, feel free to buy one.)
The week’s readings are to be completed before that week’s session. You’re not expected to complete the optional readings, but you can take a look at them if you’re interested – they’ll provide additional context for the week’s topic of discussion. You may also find them useful if you decide to write a paper on that topic.
(Note: in order to access any of the linked readings on this page, you must be enrolled in this course (or otherwise explicitly granted access by me).)
The schedule is subject to revision as the semester progresses, but I’ll keep this version current. I’ll also post lecture notes after each session.
Monday 16 October: Course introduction
Reading:
- Michael Lynch, “Introduction: The metaphysics of truth”, 2021 (pp. 1–6 of The Nature of Truth)
Resources:
- In-class reading: Excerpts from the Theaetetus
- Week 1 lecture notes
Monday 23 October: The correspondence theory
Readings:
- Michael Lynch, Jeremy Wyatt, and Junyeol Kim, “Correspondence theories: Introduction”, 2021 (pp. 9–15 of The Nature of Truth)
- Bertrand Russell, “Truth and falsehood”, 1912 (pp. 17–22 of The Nature of Truth)
- J. L. Austin, “Truth”, 1950 (pp. 23–35 of The Nature of Truth)
Optional reading:
- Marian David, “The correspondence theory of truth”, 2015
Resources:
Discussion chair: Brett Topey
Monday 30 October: Introduction to Tarski’s theory
Readings:
- Michael Lynch, Nathan Kellen, and Jeremy Wyatt, “Tarski’s theory and its importance: Introduction”, 2021 (pp. 257–263 of The Nature of Truth)
- Alfred Tarski, “The semantic conception of truth and the foundations of semantics”, 1944 (pp. 265–290 of The Nature of Truth)
Optional reading:
- Alfred Tarski, “Truth and proof”, 1969
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Vanessa Rainer, Clemens Hintner
Monday 6 November: Tarski’s theory, continued
Reading:
- Susan Haack, “Is it true what they say about Tarski?”, 1976
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Johannes Haunschmid, Eva Wesely
Monday 13 November: Tarski’s theory as a correspondence theory
Reading:
- Hartry Field, “Tarski’s theory of truth”, 1972 (pp. 291–316 of The Nature of Truth)
Optional reading:
- Gila Sher, “What is Tarski’s theory of truth?”, 1999
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Felix Igler, Juri Reiter
Monday 20 November: Tarski’s theory and linguistic meaning
Reading:
- Scott Soames, “What is a theory of truth?”, 1984
Resources:
Discussion chair: Rachael Arnold
Monday 27 November: Worries about correspondence
Reading:
- P. F. Strawson, “Truth”, 1950
Optional reading:
- Donald Davidson, “True to the facts”, 1969
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Mariano Sota, Michele Occhialini
Monday 4 December: Introduction to deflationism
Readings:
- Jeremy Wyatt, “Deflationary theories: Introduction”, 2021 (pp. 319–333 of The Nature of Truth)
- P. F. Strawson, “Truth”, 1949 (pp. 345–357 of The Nature of Truth)
- W. V. O. Quine, “Truth”, 1992 (pp. 359–365 of The Nature of Truth)
- A. J. Ayer, “Truth”, 1953
Optional readings:
- Frank Ramsey, “Facts and propositions”, 1927
- Hartry Field, “Correspondence truth, disquotational truth, and deflationism”, 2001
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Konstantina Kagia, Rachael Agbebi
Monday 11 December: Minimalist and prosententialist deflationism
Readings:
- Dorothy Grover, “The prosentential theory: Further reflection on locating our interest in truth”, 2001 (pp. 379–396 of The Nature of Truth)
- Paul Horwich, Chs. 1–2 of Truth, second edition, 1998
- In Ch. 1, only the first section (“A sketch of the minimalist conception”) is mandatory; all of Ch. 2 is mandatory.
Optional reading:
- Dorothy Grover, Joseph Camp, and Nuel Belnap, “A prosentential theory of truth”, 1975
Resources: Week 9 lecture notes
Discussion chairs: Mauro Simonetta, Giovanni Olivetti
Monday 18 December: Worries about deflationism
Reading:
- Anil Gupta, “A critique of deflationism”, 1993
Optional reading:
- Bradley Armour-Garb, “Minimalism, the generalization problem and the liar“, 2004
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Barbara Fixl, Valentine Amih
Monday 8 January: Introduction to epistemic theories
Readings:
- Michael Lynch, Nathan Kellen, and Jeremy Wyatt, “Pragmatist and verificationist theories: Introduction”, 2021 (pp. 151–158 of The Nature of Truth)
- Michael Dummett, “Truth”, 1959 (pp. 209–224 of The Nature of Truth)
Optional reading:
- Charles Sanders Peirce, “How to make our ideas clear”, 1878 (pp. 159–172 of The Nature of Truth)
Resources:
Discussion chairs: James McDaniel, Michael Mocanu
Monday 15 January: Epistemic theories and pluralism
Reading:
- Crispin Wright, “Minimalism, deflationism, pragmatism, pluralism”, 2001 (pp. 567–596 of The Nature of Truth)
Optional reading:
- Michael Lynch, “Three questions for truth pluralism”, 2013 (pp. 597–617 of The Nature of Truth)
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Kristy Henderson, Nico Thomas
Monday 22 January: Epistemic theories and deflationism
Reading:
- Cheryl Misak, “Pragmatism and deflationism”, 2007
Optional reading:
- Hilary Putnam, “Two philosophical perspectives”, 1981
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Seth Sterling, Marlene Maislinger
Monday 29 January: Course wrap-up
Reading:
- Huw Price, “Truth as convenient friction”, 2003
Optional reading:
- Cesare Cozzo, “Gulliver, truth and virtue”, 2012
Resources:
Discussion chairs: Joey Pexa, Jakob Hinterholzer