Truth and its Deformities

Truth and Its Deformities is the 32nd volume in the Midwest Studies in Philosophy series. It contains major new contributions on a range of topics related to the general theme of the volume by some of the most important philosophers writing on truth in recent years. It is an international collection of contributors working on such topics as Truth and Meaning, Evidence and Testimony, Bullshit, Truth and Paradox, and Pointless Truth. The list of contributors includes Scott Soames, Susan Haack, Kieran Setiya, Tim Mauldin, Max Kolbel, Marian David, and Paul Horwich. In the tradition of Midwest Studies in Philosophy, this volume should set the terms of the debate on these topics for philosophers for some time to come.

Truth and Meaning: In Perspective ( Scott Soames).

The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth (SusanHaack)

Believing at Will (Kieran Setiya)

Common Sense as Evidence: Against Revisionary Ontology andSkepticism (Thomas Kelly)

Why We Should Prefer Knowledge (Steven L. Reynolds)

Knowledge, Truth, and Bullshit: Reflections on Frankfurt(Erik J. Olsson)

Pragmatism on Solidarity, Bullshit, and other Deformities ofTruth (Cheryl Misak)

Alethic Pluralism, Logical Consequence and the Universality ofReason (Michael P. Lynch)

Grading, Sorting, and the Sorites (Tim Maudlin)

Where the Paths Meet: Remarks on Truth and Paradox (JC Bealland Michael Glanzberg)

Pointless Truth (Jonathan Kvanvig).

Indeterminate Truth (Patrick Greenough).

Truth in Semantics (Max Kölbel).

Being and Truth (Paul Horwich).

Quine′s Ladder: Two and a Half Pages from the Philosophy ofLogic (Marian David).

Truth–defi nitions and Defi nitional Truth (DouglasPatterson).

Dr. Peter A. French is the Lincoln Chair in Ethics and theDirector of the Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics at Arizona StateUniversity. He was the Cole Chair in Ethics, Director of the EthicsCenter, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy of the Universityof South Florida. Before that he was the Lennox DistinguishedProfessor of the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy at TrinityUniversity in San Antonio, Texas. He has taught at Northern ArizonaUniversity; the University of Minnesota; Dalhousie University, NovaScotia, and served as Exxon Distinguished Research Professor in theCenter for the Study of Values at the University of Delaware.
Dr. French has a BA from Gettysburg College, an MA from theUniversity of Southern California, a Ph.D. from the University ofMiami. He received a Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) honorarydegree from Gettysburg College in 2006.
Dr. French has an international reputation in ethical and legaltheory and in collective and corporate responsibility and criminalliability. He is the author of nineteen books including The Virtuesof Vengeance, Cowboy Metaphysics: Ethics and Death in Westerns,Ethics and College Sports, Corporate Ethics, War and BorderCrossings: Ethics When Cultures Clash, Responsibility Matters,Corporations in the Moral Community, The Spectrum ofResponsibility, Collective and Corporate Responsibility, CorrigibleCorporations and Unruly Laws, Ethics in Government, and The Scopeof Morality. He is currently writing a book with the working titleOur Better Angels Have Broken Wings While the Pukin Dogs Are FlyingOverhead, that concludes with a memoir of his experiences at basesaround the world teaching ethics to Navy and Marine chaplains who were either returning from the war in Iraq or aboutto be deployed there. Dr. French has lectured at locationsaround the world. Some of his works have been translated intoChinese, Japanese, German, Italian, French, and Spanish. Amazon.comlists 48 books credited to him as author, editor, or co–editorpublished by major commercial and university presses.
Dr. French is a senior editor of Midwest Studies in Philosophy. Hewas the editor of the Journal of Social Philosophy and generaleditor of the Issues in Contemporary Ethics series. He haspublished dozens of articles in the major philosophical and legaljournals and reviews, many of which have been anthologized. He is amember of the Board of Governors and a Founding Fellow of theArizona Academy of Science, Technology and the Arts.

Howard K. Wettstein is Professor of Philosophy at theUniversity of California, Riverside. He holds a B.A. degree inPhilosophy from Yeshiva College, an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the CityUniversity of New York. Wettstein has published two books, TheMagic Prism: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language (OxfordUniversity Press, 2004) and Has Semantics Rested On a Mistake?, andOther Essays (Stanford University Press, 1991) and a number ofpapers in the philosophy of language, one focus of his research.Another and current focus is the philosophy of religion, publishingpapers on topics like awe, doctrine, ritual, the problem of evil,and the viability of philosophical theology. He is currently atwork on a book in the philosophy of religion. He is a senior editor(with Peter French) of Midwest Studies in Philosophy, and hasedited a number of other volumes including Themes From Kaplan(Oxford University Press, 1989, co–edited) and Diasporas andExiles: Varieties of Jewish Identity (University of CaliforniaPress, 2002).