Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Deflationary Theories

  • Van Inwagen contra Meinong on Having Being and Lacking Being

    There is a passage in Peter van Inwagen's "Existence, Ontological Commitment, and Fictional Entities," (in Existence: Essays in Ontology, CUP, 2014, p. 98, emphasis added), in which he expresses his incomprehension of what the Meinongian means by 'has being' and 'lacks being':  . . . the Meinongian must mean something different by 'has being' and 'lacks…

  • Misgivings About Deflationary Theories of Truth

    1. From my survey of the literature, there are four main types of truth theory being discussed: substantive theories, nihilist (for want of a better label) theories, deflationary theories, and identity theories.  Let me say just a little about the first two main types and then move on to deflationism. 2. Substantive theories maintain that…