Illustration by Mike Edwards
www.michaeledwardsillustration.webs.com
The Identity Theory of Truth Conference
Location: Trinity College, OCR
The purpose of this conference is to bring together new research on the identity theory of truth. To a first approximation, the identity theory states that a proposition is true just in case it is identical with a fact. The identity theory is often seen as an alternative to both correspondence and minimalist theories of truth. The topic has many important connections to work in metaphysics, the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. And it plays an important role on in the history of philosophy: versions of the theory can be detected in the works of Bradley, Frege, Moore, Russell, and Wittgenstein, amongst others.
The sorts of questions that may be addressed at this conference include:
- How exactly should the identity theory of truth be formulated?
- Why should we accept the identity theory? Is it a mere truism, is it supported by a desire to minimise our ontological commitments, or is it motivated in some other way, perhaps as a way to secure the idea that true thought ‘reaches right out to reality’?
- It is tempting to think that if the proposition that p is true, then it is true because p. Can this tempting thought be accommodated by the identity theory?
- Does the identity theory play a role in Wittgenstein’s Tractatus? If so, what are the implications for the interpretation of Wittgenstein’s early philosophy? And are there any lessons for contemporary philosophy here?
- To what extent, if at all, is the relationship between minimalism and the identity theory antagonistic?
Conference Programme
Confirmed Speakers
Daniel Brigham (Cambridge)
Stewart Candlish (UWA)
Pascal Engel (Geneva)
Jennifer Hornsby (Birkbeck)
Steven Methven (Oxford)
Michael Potter (Cambridge)
Gila Sher (UCSD)
Peter Sullivan (Stirling)
Robert Trueman (Cambridge)
Registration
Registration is £35/£25. Online registration is now available.
The conference is supported by the Faculty of Philosophy, Cambridge, the Mind Association and the Aristotelian Society. The local organisers of the conference are Dr. Daniel Brigham and Dr. Robert Trueman. Please direct any inquiries to identitytheoryoftruth2016 [@] gmail.com
