Circularity, Definition and Truth

Contents: Preface. 1. Virtuous circles: from fixed points to revision rules/G. Aldo Antonelli. 2. Circularity and the debate between deflationist and substantive theories of truth/Elke Brendel. 3. Rationality and circularity/Andre Chapuis. 4. Pointers to propositions/Haim Gaifman. 5. On circular concepts/Anil Gupta. 6. Disquotationalism fortified/Volker Halbach. 7. Circularity and hierarchy/Robert Koons. 8. Truth as a value concept/Adam Kovach. 9. On the "Semantics" for languages with their own truth predicates/Philip Kremer. 10.The paradox of the surprise examination revisited/Byeong Deok Lee. 11. The analysis of "x is true" as "For any p, if x = ‘p’, then p"/Vann McGee. 12. Belief revision and the alethic paradoxes/Francesco Orilia. 13. Circularity and the sorites/Gregg Rosenberg. 14. Truth, correspondence, and reference: how deflationists diverge from Tarski/Richard Schantz. 15. Three paradoxes: circles and singularities/Keith Simmons. 16. Truth dynamics/Brian Skyrms. 17. True and false: an exchange/Achille Varzi and Roberto Casati. 18. Inference and correlational truth/Mark Wilson. Index.

"This volume consists of eighteen new essays, written by distinguished scholars, on topics that are of great interest to logicians and philosophers: definitions and the concept of truth. The essays fall into three groups. The first group defends the logical legitimacy and fruitfulness of circular definitions. It argues that circular definitions yield better theories not only of truth but also of defeasible inference, rationality, knowledge, and vagueness. The second group contributes to the philosophical debate over deflationism. Some essays in this group develop better versions of deflationary and substantive theories; some draw attention to phenomena that must be kept in view in thinking about truth. The final group is concerned with recent logical theories of truth. This group includes critical assessments of fixed-point and revision theories. It includes also new and accessible presentations of pointer semantics and the singularity theory by their originators." (jacket)