Links in the below time-table activate (or will soon activate) MP3
audio recordings of the corresponding talks. Talk recordings and
supporting material are (or will soon be) also linked from talk summaries
further below.
Fauzia Rahman-Greasley: Why Truth Matters
Some contemporary thinkers claim that Truth is an out-dated concept, a
myth redundant, of no practical use. I argue that rejections of truth
arguments are merely fads. I commence with three reasons for why the
zeitgeist has moved in the direction of abandonment of Truth. I will
then present thought experiments to demonstrate that Truth matters for
instrumental and pragmatic reasons. Truth matters because: (1) of the
kind of creatures we are; (2) discarding Truth is both harmful for
individuals and dangerous for society; (3) without Truth humanity is
unlikely to flourish and our species could become extinct. I will
conclude that whilst fashions change, Truth really does matter.
Audio recording (MP3 format)
Handout (PDF format)
Talk text (PDF format)
Simon Borrington: Truth – a Philosophical Non-Theory?
For Richard Rorty, the philosophical problems surrounding the conceptual
analysis of what truth is are rooted in the fundamental framework in
which such an analysis has to take place. In order to overcome the
correspondence vs. coherence impasse that arises from this he argues
that the pragmatist position concerning beories of truthbmyth, should be
that buthbmyth, is simply not the kind of thing that one should feel
inclined to have a theory about. However, by relying on the notion of
truth for his critique of the 'philosophical tradition', Rorty
demonstrates the inextricable importance of truth to philosophical
inquiry.
Audio recording (MP3 format)
Talk text (PDF format)
Peter Gibson: The Appeal of Truthmakers "Some
truths, such as 'I am standing', seem to be made true or false by the
way the world is -- that is, they have a 'truthmaker'. This talk will
defend the claim that all truths fit this pattern, so that every truth
has a truthmaker, and the truthmaker necessitates that the claim is true
(or false). Common objections to this thesis will be addressed,
concerning necessary truths, negative truths, and universal
generalisations. The naturalistic motivation for such a thesis will be
considered, and one or two drastic proposals will be explored, in order
to accommodate such a strong claim.
Audio recording (MP3 format)
Handout (PDF format)
Talk text (PDF format)
Eileen Walker: Truth and Possibility
What makes modal statements – statements about what might be or
what might have been the case – true or false? Normally a
statement is deemed to be true if it describes a state of affairs which
actually obtains. 'Crows are black' is true if there are black crows.
But consider: 'Cameron might have lost the election'. This describes a
counterfactual state of affairs – one which does not obtain. If
it is true, what makes it true? I shall reject the traditional response,
'Possible Worlds', and propose an alternative.
Audio recoding (MP3 format)
Slides (PDF format)
Talk text (PDF format)
Peter Townsend: Truth as Fiction If a proposition
is fictive, it is not true. Yet we also apply to fiction the criterion
of truth: it 'rings true' or is 'true to life'. What is the relation of
fiction to propositional or factual truth? I shall suggest that fiction
tells a different kind of truth, one that is to do with types, not
tokens; that it is exemplary and modal, in that it represents
alternative but (usually) possible worlds. Examples will be given from
Shakespeare, Proust and myth. I shall extend this idea to religion,
which uses narrative fictions in its claims to truth. And, if the truth
of fiction is about types, how does it compare with scientific theory
and laws, which also deals in types and examples?
Audio recoding (MP3 format)
Handout (PDF format)
Slides (PDF format)
Talk text (PDF format)
Jonathan Harlow: Truth and the Law Truth is an
important social value. and people everywhere, not just philosophers,
have always wanted to get to it. An elaborate and expensive system of
courts exists to elicit the truth in particular cases. It seems likely
therefore that we can learn something about Truth by considering the way
that courts seek to establish it. This talk looks at judicial
procedures, burdens of proof, admissible evidence and findings.
Audio recording (MP3 format)
Handout (PDF format)
Handout 2 (JPEG format)
Slides (PDF format)
Talk text (PDF format)
The Speakers
Fauzia Rahman-Greasley is Chairman of the Philosophical
Society and a regular speaker at the Gerrards Cross philosophy group.
After careers in medicine and then business, she studied at London
University for her philosophy MA. She is a published poet and
playwright of the critically acclaimed farce 'The Philosopher's Tale'.
Simon Borrington studied philosophy as a mature student at
Middlesex Polytechnic back in the 80s when it was a centre for 'Radical
Philosophy'. He embarked on postgraduate work under the guidance of
Jonathan Rée, but life got in the way. For thirty years
philosophy has been a persistent background noise to his engagement with
the world and his encounters with PhilSoc have provided a welcome
opportunity (for him, at least) to re-engage with the conversation.
Peter Gibson is a retired grammar school teacher, who
taught English, IT and Philosophy. Since 2007 he has been studying
philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, and in 2014 was awarded a
PhD for a thesis on metaphysics. He compiles thousands of philosophical
ideas at philosophyideas.com, and is currently attempting to write a
broad survey of philosophy. He is Secretary of the Philosophical
Society, and an Editor of its annual Review.
Eileen Walker's first degree was in French and Spanish and
she taught languages for 30 years. She has been a philosophy junkie for
most of that time, her habit fuelled by OUDCE weekends. Following a PhD
from Reading on natural kind essentialism , she is now trying to keep
her research interests going (mainly in metaphysics and the philosophy
of language) and doing some part-time teaching for OUDCE. She is
Treasurer of the Philosophical Society.
Peter Townsend. Educated at Luton Grammar School, Cambridge,
and SOAS; subjects: languages, literature and linguistics. Working
life: actor and comedian, advertising copywriter (as in 'Mad Men'),
teacher and lecturer, freelance writer, marketing consultant. Came late
to philosophy, via linguistics and Wittgenstein, and dropping in on
Oxford lectures. And the realisation that most arguments are rooted in
confusion (sometimes deliberate) about the meanings of the terms.
Jonathan Harlow BA MBA PhD has served in the Royal
Artillery, and worked as a government administrator and business manager
in Africa and Guyana. He taught History and Economics in a
comprehensive school for twenty years and, part-time, at university for
ten. Now retired, he is mainly engaged in local history, but very
interested in the philosophy of mind and in ethics.
Some Readings
introductions: Michael Lynch True to Life; Pascal Engel
Truth; Chase Wrenn Truth; Bernard Williams Truth and
Truthfulness
the Stanford Encylopaedia of Philosophy
(http://plato.stanford.edu/)
has at least twelve articles on various aspects of truth.
