Acta Structuralica

international journal for structuralist research

Journal | Volume | Article

234935

From relative truth to finean non-factualism

Alexander Jackson

pp. 971-989

Abstract

This paper compares two ‘relativist’ theories about deliciousness: truth-relativism, and Kit Fine’s non-factualism about a subject-matter. Contemporary truth-relativism is presented as a linguistic thesis; its metaphysical underpinning is often neglected. I distinguish three views about the obtaining of worldly states of affairs concerning deliciousness, and argue that none yields a satisfactory version of truth-relativism. Finean non-factualism about deliciousness is not subject to the problems with truth-relativism. I conclude that Finean non-factualism is the better relativist theory. As I explain, non-facualism about deliciousness is happily combined with an invariantist semantics for the word “delicious”. On this approach, relativism is a matter for a metaphysical theory, not a linguistic one.

Publication details

Published in:

Ågotnes Thomas, Bonanno Giacomo, van der Hoek Wiebe (2016) Logic and the foundations of game and decision theory. Synthese 193 (3).

Pages: 971-989

DOI: 10.1007/s11229-015-0787-0

Full citation:

Jackson Alexander (2016) „From relative truth to finean non-factualism“. Synthese 193 (3), 971–989.