Category: Truthmakers
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One-Category Trope Bundle Theory and Brentano’s Reism
This morning's mail brought a longish letter from philosophy student Ryan Peterson. He would like some comments and I will try to oblige him as time permits, but time is short. So for now I will confine my comments to the postscript of his letter: P.S. Just as crazy as one category trope bundle theory…
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The Ersatz Eternity of the Past: Denied by Lukasiewicz!
The Pole denies the actuality of the past and in consequence thereof the ersatz eternity or accidental necessity (necessitas per accidens) of the past. Quasi-literary Preamble: What has been, though it needn't have been, always will have been. What time has mothered, no future time can destroy. What you were and that you were stand forever…
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Politics, Lies, and Counterfactuals
Suppose I say 1) Had Jeb Bush won the 2016 Republican nomination for president, Hillary Clinton would have won the presidential election. We know, of course, that Donald J. Trump won the 2016 election. Suppose an Anti-Trumper calls me a liar for asserting (1). Have I lied? That depends on what a lie is. What…
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The Gist of Brightly’s Presentism
An excerpt from a comment by David Brightly to this entry: My mind is populated with ideas of things. I acquire these ideas (a) directly through acquaintance with external objects and (b) indirectly by description in language and image. These ideas of things guide my interaction with the outside world. Having seen a bear go…
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Truthmaker Maximalism Questioned
0) What David Armstrong calls truthmaker maximalism is the thesis that every truth has a truthmaker. Although I find the basic truthmaker intuition well-nigh irresistible, I have difficulty with the notion that every truth has a truthmaker. Thus I question truthmaker maximalism (TM). Alan Rhoda has recently come out in favor of TM in a…