In this book, Scott Soames illuminates the notion of truth and the role it plays in our ordinary thought as well as in our logical, philosophical, and scientific theories. Soames aims to integrate and deepen the most significant insights on truth from a variety of sources. He powerfully brings together the best technical work and the most important philosophical reflection on truth and shows how each can illuminate the other.
Investigating such questions as whether we need a truth predicate at all, what theoretical tasks it allows us to accomplish, and how we are to understand the content of any predicate capable of accomplishing these tasks, Soames organizes his discussion into three parts. Part I addresses crucial foundational issues as it identifies the bearers of truth, provides a basis for distinguishing truth from other notions (like certainty, with which it is often confused), and formulates positive responses to well-known forms of truth-skepticism. Part II explicates the formal theories of Alfred Tarski and Saul Kripke and evaluates the philosophical significance of their work. It discusses their treatments of the Liar paradox, the relationship between truth and proof, the notion of a partially defined predicate, the concepts of logical truth and logical consequence, and the connection between truth and meaning. Part III extends important lessons drawn from Tarski and Kripke into new domains:
vague predicates, the Sorites paradox, and the development of a larger, deflationary perspective on truth.
Throughout the book, Soames examines a wide range of deflationary theories of truth, and attempts to separate what is correct and worth preserving in them from what is not. In doing so, he seeks to clear up many of the most significant philosophical doubts about truth. Written for a general audience while offering engaging material to the specialist, this rich study will be profitably read by both.
Industry Reviews
One ... feature is the sheer clarity of the writing and the care with which arguments are given and discussed. In this way the book serves as an example of how to write philosophy; and this is no snall accomplishment, especially in the face of its frequent absence in contemporary philosophical books. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol.79, no.2 * While there are many introductions to Kripke's theory of truth there are none that rival Soames's presentation ... Soames's presentation of the theory is not only clear, careful, and rigorous, but is likewise, and atypically user-friendly. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol.79, no.2 * Soames's introduction to partially defined predicates is exemplary, one that presupposes virtually no background in logic or maths. ... Soames's interpretation of Kripke's 'truth value gaps' in terms of partially defined predicates ... is arguably the best available interpretation on the market; and Soames's discussion of this interpretation, like his other discussions, is a paradigm of clarity. For these reasons alone the book is well worth reading. * Australasian Journal of Philosophy, vol.79, no.2 *
