Revenge of the Liar

New Essays on the Paradox

Edited by JC Beall

One of the hottest topics in logic and philosophy of language
Fourteen previously unpublished papers
Excellent line up of contributors

Revenge of the Liar

New Essays on the Paradox

Edited by JC Beall

Description

The Liar paradox raises foundational questions about logic, language, and truth (and semantic notions in general). A simple Liar sentence like 'This sentence is false' appears to be both true and false if it is either true or false. For if the sentence is true, then what it says is the case; but what it says is that it is false, hence it must be false. On the other hand, if the statement is false, then it is true, since it says (only) that it is false.

How, then, should we classify Liar sentences? Are they true or false? A natural suggestion would be that Liars are neither true nor false; that is, they fall into a category beyond truth and falsity. This solution might resolve the initial problem, but it beckons the Liar's revenge. A sentence that says of itself only that it is false or beyond truth and falsity will, in effect, bring back the initial problem. The Liar's revenge is a witness to the hydra-like nature of Liars: in dealing with one Liar you often bring about another.

JC Beall presents fourteen new essays and an extensive introduction, which examine the nature of the Liar paradox and its resistance to any attempt to solve it. Written by some of the world's leading experts in the field, the papers in this volume will be an important resource for those working in truth studies, philosophical logic, and philosophy of language, as well as those with an interest in formal semantics and metaphysics.

Revenge of the Liar

New Essays on the Paradox

Edited by JC Beall

Prolegomenon to future revenge, JC BEALL
1. Embracing revenge: on the indefinite extendibility of language, ROY T. COOK
2. The liar paradox, expressibility, and possible languages, MATTI EKLUND
3. Solving the paradoxes, escaping revenge, HARTRY FIELD
4. Validity, paradox, and the ideal of deductive logic, THOMAS HOFWEBER
5. On the metatheory of Field's `Solving the paradoxes, escaping revenge', HANNES LEITGEB
6. Reducing revenge to discomfort, TIM MAUDLIN
7. Understanding the liar, DOUGLAS PATTERSON
8. Revenge, Field, and ZF, GRAHAM PRIEST
9. Field on revenge, AGUSTIN RAYO and PHILIP WELCH
10. Bradwardine's revenge, STEPHEN READ
11. Curry's revenge: the costs of non-classical solutions to the paradoxes of self-reference, GREG RESTALL
12. Aletheic vengeance, KEVIN SCHARP
13. Burali-Forti's revenge, STEWART SHAPIRO
14. Revenge and context, KEITH SIMMONS

Revenge of the Liar

New Essays on the Paradox

Edited by JC Beall

Author Information

Contributors:

JC BEALL (University of Connecticut; University of St Andrews)
ROY T. COOK (Villanova University; University of St Andrews)
MATTI EKLUND (Cornell University)
HARTRY FIELD (New York University)
THOMAS HOFWEBER (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
HANNES LEITGEB (University of Bristol)
TIM MAUDLIN (Rutgers University)
DOUGLAS PATTERSON (Kansas State University)
GRAHAM PRIEST (University of Melbourne; University of St Andrews)
AGUSTIN RAYO (MIT; University of St Andrews)
STEPHEN READ (University of St Andrews)
GREG RESTALL (University of Melbourne)
KEVIN SCHARP (The Ohio State University)
STEWART SHAPIRO (The Ohio State University; University of St Andrews)
KEITH SIMMONS (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
PHILIP WELCH (University of Bristol)