Truthmaker Theory and Naturalism

Metaphysica ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-250
Author(s):  
David Rowe
Keyword(s):  
Prima Facie ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Truthmaker Theory ◽  
Negative Truths

Abstract This paper argues that there is a heretofore unresolved tension between truthmaker-style metaphysics and a plausible version of Naturalism. At the turn of the century, George Molnar proposed four prima facie plausible principles for a realist metaphysics in order to expose truthmaker theory’s incapacity to find truthmakers for negative truths. I marshal the current plethora of attempted solutions to the problem into a crisp trilemma. Those who solve it claim that Molnar’s tetrad is consistent; those who dissolve it do away with the requirement that every truth needs a truthmaker; and those who absolve it embrace a negative ontology. I argue that one is forced to absolve the problem: all other avenues undermine the truthmaker principle itself. Absolving the problem, however, does not sit well with a version of Naturalism that most would accept. We are drawn to a simple dilemma: either embrace a negative ontology, or reject truthmaker-style metaphysics.

The cost of truthmaker maximalism

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 460-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Jago
Keyword(s):  
David Lewis ◽  
Truthmaker Theory ◽  
The Cost ◽  
In Virtue Of ◽  
Negative Facts ◽  
Truthmaker Maximalism ◽  
Negative Truths

According to truthmaker theory, particular truths are true in virtue of the existence of particular entities. Truthmaker maximalism holds that this is so for all truths. Negative existential and other ‘negative’ truths threaten the position. Despite this, maximalism is an appealing thesis for truthmaker theorists. This motivates interest in parsimonious maximalist theories, which do not posit extra entities for truthmaker duty. Such theories have been offered by David Lewis and Gideon Rosen, Ross Cameron, and Jonathan Schaffer. However, it will be argued here that these theories cannot be sustained, and hence maximalism comes with a serious ontological cost. Neither Armstrong's invocation of totality facts nor the Martin-Kukso line on absences can meet this cost satisfactorily. I'll claim that negative facts are the best (and perhaps only) way out of the problem for the truthmaker maximalist.

Reformers, Employers, and the Dangers of Working-Class Smoking

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Wood
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Moral Reform ◽  
Urban Fires ◽  
Young Smokers ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the importance of class, manhood, and youth in turn-of-the-century conversations about cigarettes, when moral reform crusaders such as Lucy Page Gaston of Illinois viewed “coffin nails” as a sure path to physical and emotional doom. Reformers warned that smoking stunted the potential of young working-class males for growth to respectable and healthy manhood and crushed their chances of adult success as workers. The wrecked lives of young smokers, according to reformers, were prima facie evidence of the corrosive and harmful impact of cigarettes on modern society. At the same time, the relationship between cigarettes and urban fires suggested the growing presence of smoking at work, as dropped cigarettes and matches ignited deadly fires such as the Newark Factory Fire (1910) and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911).

Negative Truth

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-167
Author(s):  
Stephen Mumford
Keyword(s):  
High Price ◽  
Negative Aspect ◽  
Negative Truth ◽  
Truthmaker Theory ◽  
Negative Truths ◽  
Negative Judgement

Truths are supposed to be made true by something that exists, such as a fact, according to truthmaker theory. What, though, of apparent truths concerning what is not the case? How can they be made true by something that is? This paradox of negative judgement has been re-articulated by Molnar. We must either meet his challenge, of identifying the positive truthmakers for the negative truths, or we must reject at least one of the premises that jointly entailed that there were such truthmakers. Attempts to solve this problem have all failed. Candidate positive truthmakers usually rely on smuggling in some negative aspect. It also looks difficult to reject any of Molnar’s premises since doing so comes at a seemingly high price. At present, this problem remains unresolved.

Psychology and gender at the turn of the century.

2000 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 613-615 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry L. Minton
Keyword(s):  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
And Gender

Russia in international capital movement: Turn of tendencies

2017 ◽  
pp. 148-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bulatov
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Structure ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Capital Movement ◽  
International Capital ◽  
Capital Outflow ◽  
The Past ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Future Situation ◽  
International Capital Movement

The paper deals with the past, current and future situation in Russian capital outflow and inflow. The specific features of the past situation (2001-2013) were as follows: big scale of Russian participation in international capital movement; turnover of national capital between Russia and offshores; stable surplus of capital outflow over inflow; inadequacy of industrial structure of capital inflow to Russian needs. The current situation is characterized by such new features as radical cut in volumes of capital outflow and inflow, some decrease in its level of offshorization. In the mid-term the probability of continuation of current trends is high. In the long-term the mode of Russian participation in international capital movement will prima facie depend on prospects of realization of systematic reforms in the Russian economy.

Obscure(d) Modernism: The Aesthetics of the Architect Pal Ligeti

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Rajesh Heynickx
Keyword(s):  
Turn Of The Century

On an old picture, taken in Budapest in the early 1930s, a little girl is leaning on the wall around the Halaszbastya or Fisherman's Bastion. From this mock fortification, built for the Hungarian Millennium celebrations of 1896, she had a marvellous view of the skyline of the Hungarian capital which was dominated by one building: the parliament (fig. 1). It is quite possible that the little girl was counting the number of white neo-gothic turrets and arches of the parliament that was, just as the fortress on which she was standing, built at the turn of the century, to express the sovereignty of the nation. Maybe she tried to decipher some of the sculptures on the walls of the parliament which represented Hungarian rulers and famous military people.

The Arrival of the Zarzuela in Budapest El rey que rabió by Ruperto Chapí

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 243-262
Author(s):  
Gloria A. Rodríguez-Lorenzo
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
Musical Theatre ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Going Public ◽  
Spanish Music ◽  
Written Performance

The appearance of zarzuela in Hungary is entirely unknown in musicology. In the present study, I discuss the currently unchartered reception of the zarzuela El rey que rabió (first performed in Spain in 1891) by Ruperto Chapí (1851-1909), a Spanish composer of over one hundred stage pieces and four string quartets. Premièred as Az unatkozó király in Budapest seven years later in 1898, Chapí’s zarzuela met with resounding success in the Hungarian press, a fervour which reverberated into the early decades of the twentieth century. Emil Szalai and Sándor Hevesi’s skilful Hungarian translation, together with Izsó Barna’s appropriate adjustments and reorchestration, accordingly catered the work to Budapest audiences. Through analysis of hand-written performance materials of Az unatkozó király (preserved in the National Széchényi Library), alongside a detailed study of the Hungarian reception, the profound interest in Spanish music–particularly in relation to musical theatre–amongst the turn-of-the-century Hungarian theatre-going public is revealed. This paper explores how Az unatkozó király became a success in Hungary.

Dyadic Obligations over Complex Actions as Deontic Constraints in the Situation Calculus

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Claßen ◽  
James Delgrande
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Deontic Logic ◽  
Action Theory ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Situation Calculus ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
Planning Techniques ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Reasoning About Action ◽  
The Given

With the advent of artificial agents in everyday life, it is important that these agents are guided by social norms and moral guidelines. Notions of obligation, permission, and the like have traditionally been studied in the field of Deontic Logic, where deontic assertions generally refer to what an agent should or should not do; that is they refer to actions. In Artificial Intelligence, the Situation Calculus is (arguably) the best known and most studied formalism for reasoning about action and change. In this paper, we integrate these two areas by incorporating deontic notions into Situation Calculus theories. We do this by considering deontic assertions as constraints, expressed as a set of conditionals, which apply to complex actions expressed as GOLOG programs. These constraints induce a ranking of "ideality" over possible future situations. This ranking in turn is used to guide an agent in its planning deliberation, towards a course of action that adheres best to the deontic constraints. We present a formalization that includes a wide class of (dyadic) deontic assertions, lets us distinguish prima facie from all-things-considered obligations, and particularly addresses contrary-to-duty scenarios. We furthermore present results on compiling the deontic constraints directly into the Situation Calculus action theory, so as to obtain an agent that respects the given norms, but works solely based on the standard reasoning and planning techniques.

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