The Tarskian Turn: Deflationism and Axiomatic Truth

What is it about?

The integrity of our field requires frank and objective reviewing. —Frango Nabrasa, Logician EXCERPT: THE TARSKIAN TURN has been praised by distinguished philosophers of mathematical logic: on the dust jacket John Burgess calls it “clear and concise”; Vann McGee says it shows “remarkable insight and technical dexterity”; and elsewhere John and Alexis Burgess call it “indispensable, and perhaps more accessible than the seminal papers by Feferman” (Burgess 2011, p.139). It has been favorably reviewed in mainstream journals such as Bulletin of Symbolic Logic, Philosophical Quarterly, and Notre Dame Philosophical Books. On page 17, Horsten claims to give an original English translation of the famous opening three sentences of Frege’s classic German article “The thought”. Horsten’s first sentence is not even correct English. Just as ‘beautiful’ points the ways [sic] for aesthetics and 'good’ for ethics, so does the word like [sic] ‘true’ for logic. The second and third sentences are verbatim copies from the well-known and frequently quoted translation by Geach and Stoothoff (Beaney 1997, p. 325), which has the following for its first sentence. Just as ‘beautiful’ points the way for aesthetics and 'good’ for ethics, so do words like ‘true’ for logic. This passage combines careless writing with careless scholarship. Yet it was read by the author, the MIT referees, the MIT copy editors, and the several reviewers—some of whom are respected authorities. Conclusion Instead of “clear and concise” [Burgess’s characterization], “murky and verbose” would be more appropriate; instead of “remarkable insight and technical dexterity” [McGee’s expression], perhaps “impenetrability and technical clumsiness” would be closer to the truth. The MIT Press did a disservice to its readers and to the author. As it stands, no responsible teacher would adopt it. END OF EXCERPT PLEASE SHARE AS YOU SEE FIT.

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Why is it important?

The integrity of our field requires frank and objective reviewing. —Frango Nabrasa, Logician