TY - JOUR
T1 - Deflationism and the success argument
AU - Damnjanovic, Nic
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Deflationists about truth typically deny that truth is a causal-explanatory property. However, the now familiar 'success argument' attempts to show that truth plays an important causal-explanatory role in explanations of practical success. Deflationists have standardly responded that the truth predicate appears in such explanations merely as a logical device, and that therefore truth has not been shown to play a causal-explanatory role. I argue that if we accept Jackson and Pettit's account of causal explanations, the standard deflationist response is inconsistent, for on this account even logical properties can be causally explanatory. Therefore the deflationist should remain neutral as to whether truth is a causal-explanatory property, and focus instead on the claim that truth, if it is a property, is a merely logical one.
AB - Deflationists about truth typically deny that truth is a causal-explanatory property. However, the now familiar 'success argument' attempts to show that truth plays an important causal-explanatory role in explanations of practical success. Deflationists have standardly responded that the truth predicate appears in such explanations merely as a logical device, and that therefore truth has not been shown to play a causal-explanatory role. I argue that if we accept Jackson and Pettit's account of causal explanations, the standard deflationist response is inconsistent, for on this account even logical properties can be causally explanatory. Therefore the deflationist should remain neutral as to whether truth is a causal-explanatory property, and focus instead on the claim that truth, if it is a property, is a merely logical one.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=60949443657&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.0031-8094.2005.00384.x
DO - 10.1111/j.0031-8094.2005.00384.x
M3 - Article
SN - 0031-8094
VL - 55
SP - 53
EP - 67
JO - Philosophical Quarterly
JF - Philosophical Quarterly
IS - 218
ER -