Is Simplicity Alethic for Semantic Theories?

Author:Francisco Calvo Garz

Abstract /

Crispin Wright (1992) has reshaped debates about Realism by offering a new landscape of what`s at stake in the discussions between realists and their opponents. Instead of arguing whether a given discourse can be truth apt, discussion should focus, Wright contends, on what kind of truth predicate a discourse can enjoy. Namely, whether truth for a discourse can be `robust` or merely `minimal`. Wright`s approach has important implications for Quine`s well-known Thesis of the Inscrutability of Referenc. The bulk of this paper will be devoted to showing that an argument involving minimalism about truth which Wright (1997) offers against the Inscrutability Thesis fails by reduction. By the end of the paper, we`ll see how Wright`s proposed frame of discussion for Realism bears on the metaphysical status of Semantic Theories.

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