Ohio State professor Kevin Scharp gives philosophy seminar "Replacing Truth" Feb. 28

Date: Feb. 28, 2008
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: North Court 202

Dr. Kevin Scharp of The Ohio State University will discuss "Replacing Truth" on February 28 as part of the Department of Philosophy's Speakers Series.

Kevin Scharp has a B.A. in mathematics from Washington University, a M.A. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently an assistant professor at The Ohio State University. His research interests are primarily in philosophical logic and philosophy of language. He has edited a collection of Wilfrid Sellars' essays, with Robert Brandom, entitled In the Space of Reasons (Harvard University Press, 2007). He has published papers on Sellars, Locke, truth, and meaning. Currently, Kevin is finishing a book on truth and the liar paradox. Other philosophical interests of his include theories of rationality, measurement theory and formal epistemology.  

Abstract

A major obstacle to understanding our concept of truth is the liar paradox. Although we have known about the liar paradox for two thousand years, there is still no consensus on how to solve it.  Indeed, every attempt to solve the paradox gives rise to even more difficult paradoxes, called "revenge" paradoxes.  However, there have been several recent attempts to rethink the source of the liar paradox by locating it in the concept of truth itself.  According to these views, our concept of truth is defective; moreover, the liar paradox and the various revenge paradoxes are symptoms of this defect.  I present and defend this sort of approach to the liar paradox, and I argue that we should replace the defective concept of truth with a pair of concepts that do truth's job without giving rise to paradoxes. Of course, replacing the concept of truth is rather difficult, and I discuss some of the challenges faced by this sort of approach to the liar. 

Posted February 5, 2008