Truth (Oxford Readings in Philosophy) - Tapa dura

The aim of the series is to bring together important recent writing in major areas of philosophical inquiry, selected from a variety of sources, mostly periodicals, which may not be conveniently available to the university student or the general reader. The editors of each volume contribute an introductory essay on the items chosen and on the questions with which they deal. A selective bibliography is appended as a guide to further reading. This volume is designed to set out some of the central issues in the theory of truth. It begins with writings by F. H. Bradley, William James, Gottlob Frege, and Bertrand Russell, and continues wih the classical discussions from the middle of the century (including Wittgenstein, Quine, and Austin), ending with a selection of contemporary contributions, including essays from Donald Davidson and Richard Rorty. The collection draws together, for the first time, the debates between philosophers who favour 'robust' or 'substantive' theories of truth, and those other, 'deflationist' or minimalists, who deny that such theories can be given. The editors provide a substantial introduction, in which they map out this terrain and locate writers from Frege to Wittgenstein and Davidson within it. They also describe how these debates relate to more technical issues, such as work on the Liar paradox and formal truth theories.

Simon Blackburn is Edna S. Koury Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His publications include Spreading the Word (OUP, 1984), The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy (OUP, 1994), and Ruling Passions (OUP, 1998). Keith Simmons is Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is author of Universality and the Liar: An Essay on Truth and the Diagonal Argument (CUP, 1993).