Customer Reviews

Theories of Truth: A Critical Introduction

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I came across a copy of this book at a used books store. I didn't know anything about it, but since I'm interested in theories of truth, I bought it and it far surpassed my expectations.

The author is an excellent writer and is very good at explaining rather difficult topics. He also does an excellent job of distinguishing all the different issues that are often conflated in discussions about truth.

The book includes very good discussions of the theories of Russell, Dummett, Davidson, Tarski, and Kripke among others. The only criticism I can make of the book is that the author's sympathies for correspondence theories are a little obvious. That is not to say that he is dismissive of non-correspondence theories nor that he is uncritical of correspondence theorists. His arguments against his opponents are quite strong, and he is very upfront about acknowledging the difficulties facing correspondence theories. I mention this criticism only because the book is supposed to be an introduction but is more of an opinionated introduction.

Overall, this is a excellent book. I would reccomend it to anyone with an interest in the topic. Some philosophical background is helpful, but not necessary.

By far the best introduction to theories of truth. The author has a preternatural gift for exposition. Even the twistiest corners of truth-theorizing are explained clearly without being oversimplified.

He comes down a little hard on James and the pragmatic theory of truth, but having opinions is a good thing, not a bad thing. Of particular interest is his chapters on the Liar paradox--an almost unbelievably lucid explication. Follow up with Scott Soames book on truth, and you'll be well on your way.

This is an excellent introduction to the various theories of truth.

The first two chapters ("Projects of Theories of Truth" & "Justification and Truth Bearers") are excellent intros in themselves, esp. with respect to epistemological concerns. Here are the chapters that follow:

3 Nonrealist Theories

4 The Correspondence Theory

5 Alfred Tarski's Semantic Theory

6 Objections to Tarski's Theory

7 The Justification Project

8 Davidson and Dummett

9 The Liar Paradox

10 The Speech-Act Project and the Deflationary Thesis

The theories are discussed in terms of analytical philosophy. The limit this imposes is that it has little to explicitly say about how some Continental philosophers have thought about truth (e.g. "On the Problem of Truth" in Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought), "Truth and Power" in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977), although much (not all) Continental thinking on truth could, from the analytical perspective, be 'translated' into terms fitting into chapter 3.

Certainly the best book on theories of truth I've come across

(and, believe me, I've searched wide and far). Kirkham writes

in an elegant, crisp style and provides the reader not just with

an overview and comparison of various theories of truth but gives

one a clear understanding of their respective shortcomings as well.

Highly recommended reading!

Truth is one of the most subjective and utterly elusive things humans have ever conceived, and this book makes it evident, while at the same time coming up with ideas and arguments which shed light on whether or not truth can be had and if so, to what extent. Very readable, and extremely insightful.

~jjg

I've only read about the first 2 chapters of the of the 10-chapter book, "Theories of Truth"; however, I've found Kirkham's treatment of the subject of truth to be quite technical, a bit tedious, and more detailed than my preferences would require. Yet, Kirkham does a fine job of juxtaposing different theories and different approaches to the study of truth as a highly worthwhile subject.

I expect the remainder of the book to involve some highly analytical and technical expositions, but I tend to agree with what I've thus far garnered of the author's views on important philosophical issues surrounding truth as a study. Thus, I will give the book 4 stars, and I refrain from the maximum of 5 stars simply because it's a more tedious analysis of truth than the generalist approach that I would most strongly favor.

There seem to be different kinds of truth:

valid deduction from true assumptions

agreement with observation

satisfaction of a definition

usefulness

consensus view

coherence, consistency

etc., etc.

Utility theory in economics is a contribution to formalizing a notion

of "useful" or "good." But we now know that traditional scalar

utility is unsound (Beardon, et al, J. of Mathematical Economics, 37,

17-38, 2002) and that utility must (in general) be a vector (Thrall,

Decision Processes, 1960, Wiley, NY).

I suggest that in the same way truth is a vector having different

components. It is these different components that are the different

kinds of truth discussed by Kirkham and other philosophers.

I would like to point out I ordered the fifth printing of "Theories of Truth" and pages 307-338 are missing. To be more correct, they are replaced by pages 51-82. The most amazing thing is that the missing pages contain the material on the disquotational theory of truth--the ONE section I needed.

Perhaps my case is unique, but one would think the MIT Press could get this right.